A SI guide to Faerûn, Athkatla and the rest
by wassersaeufer
Summary: The hunt for Jon Irenicus and Imoen through the land of Amn, told from the perspective of one not so average half-orc. Who is not so sure if his alingement is chaotic good or neutral good, if this still is ADnD or 3.5 and where the f**k the Mary-Sue comes from. / No Pairings so far and definitely never OC/Charname
1. Prologue

_I have no idea why I'm writing this. I really don't know. I guess it just came over me like the flu. Most likely I will not finish it anyway._

_After heaving read a lot of Mass Effect SI stories, and I mean A LOT, and recently getting hooked on Baldur's Gate II again, after more than six years or so, I have decided to write a Baldur's Gate II SI story... not so surprising, isn't it?_

_Anyway, to shake things up a bit I will change a bit here, a few things there. Partly because of the fact that I think ADnD sucks, partly because the stable game world is suddenly a living, breathing real world, and partly because I can. Some changes will come from mods I enjoy, some will be my own. Well, anyway, here we go._

**WARNING: **_Partly the story will be humourus, partly grim, partly something in between. And yes, there will be violence, foul language and mentions of rape and torture. You have been warned._

* * *

**Prologue**

I'm in Athkatla. In Amn. On the Sword Coast. In Faerun. That means I'm in a fucking gameworld called the Forgotten Realms designed for the game Dungeons and Dragons. Damnit, I haven't even played it in about two years or so. Not that I could ever forgett the rules, I have played the game through most of my youth and the beginning of my adult life. Though mostly not in the Forgotten Realms but in a world of my own design, called Arkadia. Darker than Faerun, more brutal and less magical.

Whatever, now I'm in Amn. In Athkatla to be precise, the city of coin, where the Shadowmasters have as much power as the official government. Not that I could tell from where I was, because I was sitting in a cell together with a group of other men, all heavily muscled and their eyes downcast.

Because we were gladiators. Gladiators in the backrooms of the Copper Coronet.

My first memory of this world was being thrown into the cell. My head had hurt and my body was sore, but I felt a growl come up in my throat and bit it back with barely contained anger. "Stinking, cowardly shitheads...", I had grumbled and got up from the ground, looking around.

"I would say well met orc, but sadly, we are not well", a voice had said to me and I found myself looking into the face of a well build, heavily muscled man somehow reminding me of a slighly older Manu Bennett. Yep, muscled and good voice, I could easily accepting the actor from new zealand playing a gladiator. As he had done already.

But back to the topic. My mind worked in overdrive and tried to place the fact that he had called me an orc. Oh yes, I remembered, I had chosen to become a half-orc instead of a simple, boring human or a dwarf or elf. Why again had I done that? Besides from the stats they offer only a big list of problems.

Yes, I had created this character. Meaning me. I had died, not important right now, and then I had created a new DnD character to use. Using 3.5 rules by the way, so it is somehow a bit ironic that I woke up in the game Baldur's Gate 2, because that game still uses ADnD rules.

"Where am I?", I had asked with a heavy growl and a thick accent in my voice.

"In the slums of Athkatla, in the fighting pits of the Copper Coronet." He helped me to my feet and to his surprise, at least he seemed surprised, I let him. "My name is Hendak. What is your's, brother?"

I was tempet to answer that I was not his brother, but I had the vague impression that we were together in this shit, so why not calling each other's brothers? So I bit back that comment and just answered with first response that came to my mind. It actually really was my name, I had chosen it beforehand. "Azog."

Damnit, I had named myself after the White Ork from the Hobbit, the movies, and now I was standing before the guy playing Azog. Talk about irony.


	2. Chapter 1: Slavery

_I'm a DnD 3.5 player, though I have not played in a while. That said, of course I would use the rules from that game to create a fantasy character instead of those from Baldur's Gate II... I mean, hey, no Game Master to make house rules there, right?_

_Anyway, if anyone is interested in learning Azog's stats, write me a PM._

* * *

**Chapter 1: Slavery**

I'm Azog, half-orc gladiator enslaved by humans and thrown into the fighting pits in the slums of Athkatla. That means I am an half-orcish fighter with crazy good abilitie stats (and yes, I've just rolled again and again and again until I had a set which suited me just fine), a lot of feats and a not yet decided alignment. Can't remember why I had done so, but it suits me just fine.

The first night I spend in the world of Baldur's Gate I slept on the hard ground of a cell, in the company of three other gladiators, hungry and miserable and cold. I had trouble getting to sleep, my mind racing as you can imagine, and when I finally fell asleep I was awoken after a much too short time with the sound of the heavy door opening and cold water thrown into my face.

"Get up you piece of shit!", someone yelled. Brutally I was pulled to my feet by three men while the other gladiators were held back with spears, then already I was dragged out of the cell and put in heavy chains. As if I were crazy enough to attack a group of fully armed men while I was myself unarmed, hungry and weak.

My mind needed another two seconds before it was functional and in that time I was already pushed into the direction of the fighting pit's itself, my feet all but dragging across the floor thanks to the heavy iron chains I had to endure. Well assholes, I told myself, I will get you back for that. And the good part was, I knew that.

In the night I had decided to just embrace this new life. My old life was over, I had died in the sickbed way too young and had already made my peace with that. A lot of regrets, of course, but who don't have them? Before I knew it I was humming "My Way" from good ole Franky Boy under my breath, as I was pushed into the arena.

It was just as dirty as I had imagined it, but a lot bigger. There had also been more than just three cells for the slaves, like it had been in the game, but about I'd say ten of them. Had the world become more realistic as I had been thrown into it? Possible.

The arena was, just like in the game, consisting of three smaller arenas inside the big chamber, but there were also rows upon rows of spikes in the circular walls and there were also more rows for an audience, including two boxes for special guests. I'm sure the men and women sitting there would be entertained by pleasure slaves while watchting the spectacle below. At least, I would have done it that way.

My guards pushed me roughly into the mid of the large room, that means into the middle arena, and then unleashed me. I did not lash out against them, though I was tempted, but I knew that it would do me no good other than a bit of satisfaction and most likely a beating. So I only set my chin, scowled at them and then gazed up to the main loge were a slim, grinning man was sitting.

"I am Lehtinan, your new master, slave", he adressed me and immediately my blood began to burn upon being called slave. Not that I had not known it beforehand, but HIM saying it made it somehow more worse. "You will fight here for the entertainment of me and my friends till you die. Fight well and you live longer and perhaps even comfortable. If don't..." He shrugged and his grin became somehow even more slimy and unpleasant, if that was possible. "Well, then you die sooner."

I did not answer him, I just scowled at him and clenched my teeth, keeping my temper in check. Without another word an old longsword, dull and mared with nicks from long years of use, was thrown to my feet. And then I waited, though not for long. Only a few moments after the weapon had met the ground from the far side of the arena a man clad in heavy leather and fur stepped onto the sand, holding a leash on which he pulled a big brown bear along. A big, angry brown bear. A big, angry, hungry brown bear.

"Oh great...", I mumbled under my breath. "They want me to fight Yogi Bear."

Though Yogi was like I said angry and hungry, he listened to the harsh voice of the animal master and especially his whip, with which the poor, scarred animal was pushed forward. I felt something like pity in my gut as I saw the poor condition the rather scary animal was in, patches of fur missing were he had been burned and scars marring the body of it, especially the snout. He was as much of a prisoner as I was, an unwilling contestor in this cruel battle and so I decided to treat him like a warrior. Not deserving pity, but respect.

Sadly, he didn't feel the same for me.

I ducked and rolled away under the first sweep, grabbing the blade in the process and came up on his side a second later. I have no idea how I did it, my body had just reacted on it's own and I felt the need to let my body keep doing what he wanted as I had no idea how to fight a fucking bear.

The animal was faster than I would have ever believed, turning around with a speed that belied it's bulk, throwing all his mass and body at me with the intent to just crush me and the devour me. Again I jumped away to the side, barely escaping getting my arm mauled by angry bear, and lashed out in response, but the dull blade failed to penetrate the fur and fat.

Then again he whirled around and suddenly I was flying.

My chest had been nearly crushed with a single swipe from his left front paw, his claws ripping out large parts of skin and muscle and I think he also broke a few of my ribs. Again only my reflexes saved me, as my conciouns was still trying to work out what was happening, while again a very angry bear was already all but on me, intending to kill his prey. Meaning me.

I rolled to the side and with a strength I did not know I posessed I plunged the blade forward, deep into the side of my enemy. I used both hands for that, otherwise I would have never penetrated his layers of protective fat and muscle. A small voice in the back of my head told me to pull back and I did immediately, barely avoiding another swipe from a paw. But instead of just standing there I lashed out again while jumping to the side, creating a long gash on the animals side, making him roar in pain.

He turned to me, getting onto his hind legs and screamed at me. And just then I understood, how magnificient he really was. And how saw it was, that such a great animal, a big, proud and dangerous predator, had been turned into a piece of entertainment for the rich and the bored.

However, as he let himself fall back to the ground I acted, jumping forward and plunging my weapon into his hind leg, cutting his tendons and making him all but fall to the ground. At the same time however I landed on my chest and the sudden pain from my broken ribs pushed tears into my eyes and all my breath out of my lungs. And I was thus totally unprepared for the retaliation that came.

Again he threw a front paw into my direction, hitting my leg and I think breaking it in the same moment, throwing me halfway across the sand. I felt a throbbing pain in my left leg, at the same time barely being able to draw breath, but a look at the bear being in a similar position got me back on track. Clenching my teeth I pulled myself up into a sitting position and then into a standing one, heavily leaning on the right leg. I was just about to hobble to the poor animal with the intent to finish it, release him from his pain, when I myself was again hit with sudden pain.

However, this time from a whip. A long, heavy whip suddenly hitting my back and sending me back into the dirt. Again and again the pain flared through my back and arms and legs as again and again the animal master hit me with his favorite toy, cursing and yelling at me and breathing fire and brimstone into my direction.

"Enough, Kalos."

It was Lehtinan's voice which saved me from even more pain, even if a bit late for my taste. For a second I did not understand to whom he was speaking, before my mind told me, that the animal master must of course have a name. It seems his name was Kalos.

He yelled another few commands I did barely make out because of the blood rushing through my ears and the throbbing pain all over my body, the adrenaline in my veins and the fact that my head could barely make out where up was and where down was. I was pulled to my feet, a small bottle was pushed into my mouth and on reflex I drank the vile beverage. Seconds later the pain lessened.

So, that was what a healing potion tastes like? Not pleasant, I tell you.

* * *

They threw me back into the cell, together with another small healing potion and breakfast. Meaning a piece of bread and cheap sausage.

"It seems you will keep us company a bit longer", Hendak told me while feeding me the potion and making sure that my already closing wounds would not fester. With urine. Don't ask. Really, just don't ask.

They would scar they later told me, but I had no problems with that. What is a half-orc gladiator without a few scars anyway? And they wouldn't be the first anyway, my body was littered with them. Apparently, I had always lived a harsh life.

"You sound almost dissapointed", I teased between a few harsh gulps of air and managed a weak smile. "I'm tougher than I look."

"Then you must be as tough as a dragon."

We shared a chuckle and even if it was not a real laugh, it was enough for the moment.

* * *

Life as a gladiator was... unpleasant. I had learned in my history lessons, that the man fighting for glory and freedom in old Rome had been hailed as some sort of superstars, even having groupies and such. Of course they also had to train daily and lived a hard but honest life in the service of this or that master, being cared for and also earning their freedom if they were good enough.

Lehtinan however, did not care much for his fighters. For him he were barely more than pieces of meat, cheap meat at that. He would throw a healing potion at us when we were grievously injured, but not always, and would sometimes throw a man into the pit against a clearly superior opponent. Like a troll or a whole pack of wolves.

Also we were held in cells and just got enough food not to starve, not a real diet for working up muscle and strength, least of all proper healing. He was not only cruel, he was also a cheap bastard and I understood the anger Hendak harbored at him.

I would have loved nothing more than to get my hands on that dirty asshole and slowly squeeze the life out of him, before snapping his neck, but Hendak had been there before me and thus had first dips. We were bidding our time, always praying not to be thrown against too strong enemies, praying to survive the day and for strength in the fight for our survival.

Together with Hendak and me there were two other men in the cell, Ronal and Hajid. Ronal was a blonde, blue eyed man from the far north and he harbored dislike for me, thanks to my orcish heritage, but he told me outright and that he viewed me despite this as a brother in arms thanks to the circumstances. I could live with that.

However, it was Hajid, a dark skinned man beyond his best years from the great city of Calimshan, which asked me for my story. "Azog", he said a few days after I had first come into the cell. "I would like to hear your story, of how you came into this illoustrous lot of brothers."

"Why?", I asked him with a raised eyebrow, but I kept the hostility out of my voice. I wasn't even against telling him, I just wanted to know why he wanted to learn my story.

"Alas my friend, for we have not much to do in this tiny house we call ours", he answered with a grim smile behind his black and grey beard. "And because, should you fall in battle, we will remember a friend and tell one day his story to others."

That was a good enough reason I though to myself and could not help but chuckle. I noticed that Ronal and Hendak had both turned to us and were watching me, waiting for a reply. It was true, we did not have much to do in the cell besides trying to keep fit and talk, so I began to talk. It told them what just felt right, what seemed to be my backstory. It was like remembering a movie I had seen once, a story I had read or been told, not a real memory but a memory of a memory. Or the like.

"I don't know my father nor my mother, I think their meeting wasn't one of romance and me being sired more likely an act of violence." I shrugged as all three of their faces grew a bit sad, but for me it was just a fact. Add to that that it wasn't my real life, it was rather easy to tell. "I come from the Dragon Coast, at least there I grew up, don't know if I was born there. Don't matter anyway. I'm a fighter, learned from an old priest of Tempus who had a small temple there... Moved to Westgate, hired with a band of mercenaries... Fought a few battles with them. We were protecting an old scholar traveling to Calimshan, when they attacked us on the road south of the Troll Mountains. Then... well, then I met you."

Nothing special if you ask me.

"Ah, so you pray to the Lord of Battles my friend?", Kendal asked me, his face indifferent.

Again I shrugged. "Like I said, I'm a fighter. I live by the sword, I will most likely die by it. So, why not, you know."

It was on the same day, that Ronal was pulled from the cell and that was the last time we saw him. I have no idea what happened to his corpse, most likely it was fed to the beasts, but at least he was now on the side of his god, Uthgard. Of that we were sure and somehow, it was a flicker of comfort.

* * *

The first time that I was thrown into the fighting pit after my first tryst against the bear was about ten days after my arrival here. I have no idea why they took that much time, perhaps it was just slow days, but whatever the reason, I had spend ten days in close proximity with a my cellmates before I finally was able to stretch my legs again.

To say that I wasn't at my best was like saying that a red dragon has a slight affinity for fire.

I was weak and tired and hungry whn I was pushed into the ring, a snarling and rather big wolf on the other side of it. Well, at least this time I did not really have pity for my opponent. I knew that he was faster and most likely stronger than me, so I had to use my head for this fight. While the spectators cheered and laughed at my behest, delighted to see a wild half-orc fighting an equally wild wolf, I seized my opponent up... and then he was released.

With two massive jumps he was upon be, trying to wrestle me to the ground like any dog or wolf would do. Instead of jumping away like my instincts told me i took the bite to the arm and pushed my short sword again and again into his side. This time the fight was over quickly and he died with my mauled arm still between his jaws.

I got neither a healing potion nor something to bandage my arm with, instead I was beaten while being chained down and Lehtinan kicked me while I was laying on the ground. "Stupid slave, costing me money!", he yelled as his boot found my side again and again, driving every breath out of my lungs. "Dirty, stupid, shitty fucker!"

It seems his guests had not been properly entertained.

I was thrown back into the cell dead on my feet, my entire body a single, massive bruise. I have no idea what Hendak was telling me, because as soon I hit the ground I fainted away.

* * *

I was awoken later that night, I have no idea how late exactly, to a soft voice and a warm feeling tingling my entire body. With my mind still sleepy and groggy I opened my eyes and despite the darkness my orcish eyes immediately made out a face about ten inches afar from mine. A rather pleasant, if somewhot exotic face. A female one, with green eyes. I think. And pointy ears.

"Lay still my friend. You are in safety", she told me in a shoothing voice and I could only nod numbly as she applied her healing magic. It feelt surprisingly good and warm, the magic of nature running over my body, mending broken bones, healing bruises and closing open wounds, even the massive one on my lower right arm.

"What... what is happening?", I croaked out, my voice still weak. Before she could answer a second face appeared in my vision, this time I recognized it. It was Hendak, who gave me a grim, satisfied grin.

"My friend, we are breaking out."

"Ah... about time."

The fight that followed was short and brutal. Most of the guards were little more than thugs used to prey upon those weaker than them and a.) had they already been thinned out by the group of adventurers who had freed us and b.) were we more than them.

I managed to grab a small axe from one of the dead men on the ground, following Hendak along the dirty, dimly lit path that led from the slave cells to the upper part of the Copper Coronet, together with the other slave gladiators. We were of course not merely walking, we were running, our before weak bodies filled with the power of hate, anger, frustration and revenge. We crashed into the upper floor like a force of nature, overpowering the last remaining guards easily and hacking them to pieces.

Nobles and merchants, only hours before laughing at us and amusing themselves at our behest, were now suddenly fleeing in wild panic and chaos broke out everywhere around us. There weren't many left on whom we could let out our anger, so we also demolished tables, chairs, other furniture and in seconds we had destroyed half the interior.

Behind the bar Lehtinan was standing with a loaded crossbow and tried to fire at Hendak, but he missed thanks to the confusion. I missed the following, short, conversation between them because I was busy with keeping my fellow gladiators from raping and or killing innocent bystanders.

Seems my alignment was clear by then. Though... neutral or chaotic good?


	3. Chapter 2: Freedom and Beer

_Time to do some world building. What we have seen from Athkatla in the game was only a fraction of the actual city in my mind and, to be honest, I think though beautifully painted, the incredibly high and thick walls on the area sides were total bollocks._

_In other words, I will describe Athkatla in a way I think it should look in a somewhat more realistic setting than a video game._

* * *

**Chapter 2: Freedom and Beer**

After the battle in the Copper Coronet we had a lot of sorting out to do. Men and women had been killed, property had been destroyed and a slave owning bastard had been punished by those he had owned for so long, killed with a shortsword to the stomach and left to bleed out behind the bar he had tried to hide behind.

Most of the former slaves fled immediately after they were able to, sodding idiots. They had no money, nothing beyond the clothes on their back, and thus nearly no hope for a live outside that of poverty. Some, especially the women and the children, had stayed behind and were looking to Hendak for leadership.

I sat on one of the surviving bar stools in the back of the dark, long main room, nursing my first beer in a long time and a series of gashes, bruises and grazes. I saw how people lingered around, tried to make sense of what had happened, thanking the men and women who had done it. A few of the still rather healthy escapees had began to remove the broken furniture and bringing in spare tables from a store room.

It was funny seeing the main room of the Copper Coronet for the first time in real life. It was even bigger than it had been in the game, dirtier and more rundown too. However it had some sort of rudged charm... no, not really. It was just a dirty, rundown, ugly tavern not even worth half the money you pay for your average, watered down by the way, beer. But it was ours now. Kind off.

I was not really concerned with the state of the tavern, compared to the cell I had slept in the days beforehand it was a palace. And the beer I was drinking was, as piss poor as it was, sweeter than elven wine drunken from between the titties of a soft elven maid. Not that they have much to offer in the chest compartment, but you know what I mean. So I was just sitting there, slowly drinking and smiling to myself, watching the men and women who had saved us, easily to make out thanks to their bearing and equipment.

There was the proud, handsome man in the armor standing right behind his leader, looking like the knight he was hoping to become one day. He did not wear a helmet at the moment, so I could easily make out his dark brown hair and proud bearing. Anomen Delryn this must be. I never liked him very much in the game, but his stats were rather good, a good healer and decent fighter. And he had potential.

Together with the squire from the order of the radiant heart stood a woman I could not place, thus most likely the main character from the game, as she was also the one talking with Hendak at the moment. She was blond, small and dressed in rough leather armor, not very flattering attire for a woman. A ranger or rogue perhaps? I could not really make out her features over the distance, besides the obvious, and would most likely not recognize her in the streets, but I was sure this would not be the last time they were in this tavern.

There was also Minsc, the big, burly rashemi berserker with the purple tattoo on his head, somewhere in the background speaking animatedly with one of the surviving, and remaining, gladiators. He had a large, massive blade scrapped to his back, a crude but effective weapon in the right hands.

And of course...

"You were very brave standing against your comrades in arms", the half-elven druid told me when she stepped into my line of sight, that means directly in front of me. I gave her a weak smile and pushed out a second stool with my leg, offering her to sit with me. She accepted.

"Anger is a good weapon", I mused with a grim grin plastered onto my face, then taking another sip from my beer. It was watered down and cheap and still it tasted like a drink from the gods. "But a poor adviser."

"Wise words", she answered with a nod, seizing me up and down. "Why have you decided to save these people and stand in the way of your fellow slaves wrath? They could have killed you."

"Yes, they could." I still grinned. I was not sure why she was talking to me, perhaps I was one of the more interesting people in the tavern besides her comrades and she was bored. I can't say. "But it would have been a fight I had chosen, not one chosen for me. And they did not kill me, I still draw breath and can finally drink my first beer in freedom."

"I am happy that you are able to do so. Slavery is one of the worst crimes so called civilization has brought upon the world." She spit the word slavery out like it was bile upon her tongue. "You should get rest soon, even if I have healed your most severe wounds, your body is still weak and needs rest. And nourishment too."

"Aye, I will do so. And you? What will you do?"

"I am sure our leader will make sure we will get accommodations so that we can rest ourselves before rooting out the slavers who had sold the poor men and women to the former owner of this establishment."

"I take it you are adventurers? Robbing tombs and crypts, fighting the good fight, slaying monsters and evildoers and villains alike?"

She scoffed at the description. I must admit, it was a bit mocking, if only meant in a friendly way, but she could not know that. "Yes, we are adventurers. And though we do not blindly rob tombs and crypts as you imply, we do fight against monsters. Sometimes. And sometimes, these monsters are wearing the skin of elves, humans or dwarves."

"Aye, amen to that sister", I said with a chuckle, before taking another sip from my beer. It was strange to talk with her in such a way, in reality, instead of clicking answers offered by the game to which the character will respond with a programmed answer. It was... somehow really confusing.

There I was, sitting with an halv-elven woman talking about freedom and slavery and good and evil, and something in my mind was telling me that she had decent stats, was a druid/fighter and was a possible love interest for a male main character. Which wasn't there.

* * *

I did not see them the next day. I had spend the night in one of the rooms upstairs, one of the, um, with an heart shaped bed. Don't judge me, they were really comfy. And I had slept there alone, it wasn't like they were being used for what they had been used for originally. Like the slave cells and dark lotus chambers and even the main hall, the upper floors too were bigger than my memory was telling me they were in the game.

There were two floors with small, and somewhat bigger, guest quarters as well as a bigger sleeping hall where you could lay down under a blanket and on a bit of hay. More than sixty people could easily find room to sleep in the Copper Coronet and if you squeezed a bit, and by a bit I mean a lot, you could double that number.

When I came down the stairs to the common room my nose was immediately confronted with the smell of fresh, warm bread, meat and cheese and eggs and onions. Some people were making breakfast under the watchful eye of Mama, the big, overweight chef who had chaffed away under Lehtinan and was only to happy to be free of him. She herself had been hardly more than a slave and as she could barely understand the local language it had been nearly impossible for her to take off.

Mama was a burly, big boned and very friendly woman past her prime, hailing from... I have no idea where she came from, but I would say Kara-Tur perhaps. I should ask Yoshimo for a translation, should I ever see him. Well, she was, however, welcoming us with open arms and I got the impression that she saw us as some sort of her... um family? Clan? House? Don't know what to call it.

I had just stepped down onto the floor from the stairs when she already ushered me to a table that had not been there yesterday evening, pushed a bowl with steaming hot soup into my hands and all but ordered me to eat. And when a small, heavyset, old asian woman tells you to eat, you eat or the gods have mercy on your soul.

Around me the tavern was already steaming with activity. From the open doors you could hear the sounds of the city, men and women I had never seen before were eating breakfast and drinking beer and booze, women were cleaning the floor and men were repairing the damage to the furniture and floor and walls.

Hendak saw me from behind the counter and came over to me as soon as he could, pulling out a stool for himself and sitting down in front of me. "You're up late, brother."

"I enjoyed the bed a bit too much I think", I answered with a somewhat amused look on my face, taking another bite from the bread. The still warm, fresh bread. Delicious, I tell you. "You're a tavern owner now?", I asked and indicated to the apron he was wearing, an old and dirty thing he had most likely found in the kitchens.

"Not... really", he said with a weary voice. "But we have to begin somewhere. And I can not abandon all these people. I have tried to keep them alive throughout the years in slavery, I can not just abandon them to freedom and be done with it."

I nodded and shoved another piece of cheese into my mouth. I had nothing to say, so I could just as well keep on eating.

"What will you do? You are welcome to stay as long as you will of course, but as I know you, you are not a man accustomed to staying in one place for a long time."

A good question. One that I had given not much thought over the last night, as I had spend most of it sleeping. However, there was of course only one answer. I was a fucking half-orc fighter, what else should I do than to go on adventures? So I gave him a broad grin and said: "Say, can you loan me a bit of the money Lehtinan has hoarded? I need to go shopping."

* * *

Apparently freedom smelled of piss, sweat, fish and rot. At least that was the impression I got from the moment I stepped out of the Copper Coronet. In the night I had taken a few minutes to draw fresh air after prolonged stay in the cells, but it had rained so heavily that I had been drenched to the bone in a manner of seconds. Now however...

The sun was high in the sky when I stepped out of the door, my old, ragged boots protecting me at least a bit from the dirt of the street. And it was dirty. It was the slums of Athkatla, what did I expect?

However, it was also crowded, stinky and hot, the streets littered with carts and rubbish just left there to rot. People were mingling about, people of every age going about their business, be it begging, washing laundry or being assholes. Apparently, the later were in the majority. Why was I not surprised... Anyway, people made room for me, not surprising as I towered over nearly everyone like a bull would do between a flock of sheep. No one bumped into me, no one tried to steal my money.

I was dressed in a borrowed vest, old boots and a pair of old, very well worn leather trousers, armed with a dagger and a dull short sword, the sheaths of both weapons clapped to my belt. Well, at least I had a belt. The slums were a labyrinth of buildings hastily constructed and then somehow growing, sometimes even into one single massive entity, like the big construction in which the Copper Coronet was located. Three main streets ran through the slums and besides them you could trust no street, because by the next day there could have been constructed... erm, something. Not really a house, but something.

As soon as I left the slums itself it became better. Following the description given to me I arrived on the great market, Waukeens Promenade, after only about, let's say, half an hour. And damn you was this city big. Of course not as big as those I was accustomed to from my life prior to this one, but if I recall correctly, Athkatla had about one hundred and twenty thousands inhabitants, mostly human of course.

The most busy port of the western coastline, bringing forth and taking in wares from all across the Swordcoast as well as Maztica. It was a city of commerce and trade, where magic was hated and despised and money loved. Not for the luxury you can buy from it, but for the money itself.

When I entered the Promenade I made a very, very unpleasant experience: Racism.

"Halt, stranger."

It was a guard who said that, a beefy man nearly as broad as he was tall. Which wasn't very much, he could nearly have been a dwarf, if not for the lack of a beard and the fact, that he was of course a human. Can dwarves and humans have children together? Hmmm, question for another time.

I blinked in surprise and looked at him, not immediately realizing that he was speaking to me. But as he all but stormed into my direction I knew something was up.

"Your kind is not welcome on the promenade, stinking orc. Go and look for people to rob somewhere else, before I throw you into prison, tusker."

Was that a racial slur? "Tusker"? Had I just been called something comparable to "Nigger"? If it hadn't been so real and unpleasant, I would have laughed. I studied the smaller, armed and armored man for a second and thought about my chances of me taking him down. Not too bad I might add, but that would only bring more trouble.

I bit back an angry reply, turned around and trotted away. And while I did that I realized something: He had been right. I was stinking.

"Excuse me good sir, but could you point me to the nearest bathing house?", I asked the next, very startled and intimidated, man who passed me.

* * *

Inside said bathing house I saw myself in a mirror for the first time since my arrival in this world. Since my... well, creation you could say. I was a large, bulky male with greyish skin, thankfully not really green, bushy eyebrows and small tusks coming out of my mouth. Very, very small tusks, nearly not there, but indicating to my not so human heritage. And I had gray eyes.

I had a lot of scars on my body, some from battles, others from, I would say, accidents. There was a long one beginning about an inch above my left eye, running across my receding hairline and to somewhere inside my untamed mass of hair. Oh yes, and I was balding. Again. Like back in the, um, real world. Damn it, again I was cursed with early loss of hair.

The owner of the bathing house had been reluctant to let me into his establishment, but as soon as I put five gold pieces into his hand he gave me a broad grin and pushed a barrel with soap, towels and, after another two gold, a shaving kit into my hands.

The daughter of his later cut my hair and he brought me a fresh set of clothes, again I had to pay for the extra services, but well, you only live once. Only shaving I was doing myself. And so I sat there, only clad in a towel around my waist, my shoulder long, dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, my eyes studying my own form, my beard... Well, looking like the untamed mass it was. Screw the shaving kit, give me an ax.

With the scissors and the blade I somehow managed to win the fight against my stubborn enemies, my facial hair, and even managed something that could have been to a clean shaved skin in another life. There too was a scar, beginning directly under my lip and running down to my chin. Shaving accident or sword? Shaving accident with a sword? All possible options.

Only my sideburns I left standing, everything else I cut off from my face. After I washed my face for the last time I came up and took another look into the mirror. I was not handsome, certainly not, but presentable. And I had rather magnificent sideburns.

* * *

Dressed, clean and armed with the things I had bought on a long day in the city I returned to the Copper Coronet in the early evening. Athkatla was a lot bigger than the game would indicate, like I had said, more than one hundred thousand people living in the city, a major metropolis for this world. Immense amounts of money had poured into the city over the last centuries and the city did look like it. Except, of course, in the lower class regions of the settlements, of which there were many, hidden behind walls and parks and pushed into the outer perimeter of the city.

The people here loved exotic goods and rich garments, openly showing their wealth if they could, be it in their homes or their clothes or any other way. Athkatla was, to say it in one word, very colorful. Even in the slums there was color everywhere, be it the washed out garments people were wearing or the faded paint of the buildings. Red, blue, orange and yellow mostly, a bit of white and purple too, also a few dots of green and pink here and there.

I had spend more than one thousand pieces of gold on my equipment, buying armor and weapons, boots, a backpack, a bedroll and everything else you could need, like rope and a small arrangements of knives. Can never have enough knives.

My armor consisted of a combination of a white gambeson reaching to my knees, a hauberk covering my entire torso, arms and upper legs and a single steel breast place, darkened by the way. And of course steel bracers, greaves and an helmet, a simple basinett. I had to look a long time before I had found arming garments fitting my broad and tall frame, though not as long as you would have thought. Nonhuman customers were after all not unheard off in this land.

I threw a handful of coin into the small, dirty bowl of a street performer before re entering the Copper Coronet, immediately being the center of attention. Not from the entire room of course, for that too many people were there, but at least those in the immediate proximity of me stared at me. Can't judge them, I was the perhaps biggest man in the entire slums and an armed one at that.

Somewhere someone said "Dirty swinefucker" a bit too loud and immediately got a tray over the head from a wench who had stood directly behind him in the moment. A wench who had been formerly a slave just two days ago and was now trying to help Hendak run the place. Could it be that "Swinefucker" is another racial slur? Could be.

Ah yes, racism, the one language that is universal.

"Bernard, be so good and give one of those poor excuses for a beer, will you?", I told the heavyset man standing behind the counter and without a word I got it. Funny how being very tall and intimidating could speed up some things.

"Business running again I see", I muttered to Bernard in a slow minute, when I had my beer already half empty.

"Aye, me friend, it is", he answered, though not looking at me while saying so. He was, as far as I know, really intimidated by Hendak and us other gladiators, fearing we would pummel him or worse for working for Lehtinan. Understandable if you ask me. "Though it is now much less rowdy, ye know?"

"Happens when the serving wenches are not above whacking you over the head with a tray", I shot back with a grin. True to my word, a few tables afar a drunk was getting grabby with one of the women now working here, pulling her to his lap and trying to feel her up. Instead of screaming or telling him to let off, she grabbed the beer mug on the table and knocked him out cold. I could not help but chuckle at that. "Or a beer mug. I like er style."

The other two patrons on the table were getting rowdy and loud, trying to grab the woman and as I saw that I put down my mug, stood up and made my way over. Not that I had much to do, before I reached the table Hendak was already there and told them that they could either sit down and drink or they could join their friend, standing before them with crossed arms and looking rather angry. I only had to grab one of the drunkards on the shoulder from behind and push him back onto his stool. "Sit down my friend, you wouldn't want to make us angry. Believe me."

"Ye-Yes... m'kay...", they muttered and turned back to their drinks.

"Azog, help me here, will you?", Hendak asked me while already turning his attention back from the two idiots and to the knocked out pervert on the ground.

"Sure. What do you want?"

"Just help me throwing him out to the streets, will you? Can't have him snoring away on the ground and be a hindrance for our guests." He already grabbed the man at the arms and pulled him up, so I took his legs and together we carried him out of the tavern to the dirty street, laying him there down and already forgetting about him.

"If it weren't for your ugly nose I would have not recognized you", Hendak said to me in a jovial tone, punching me slightly against my arm. My armored arm I might add, so I did not really feel it. Not that I would have hurt anyway, but now it was only a slightly dull pressure for a short moment, nothing more.

"Well, we can't all run around like gutter dogs like you do my brother", I joked back as we made our way back to the bar. We talked a while about his plans and mine, about future and revenge and letting things go. He of course desired to go back home, but he could also not abandon the people here and he also wanted to be on the look out for more slavers. As noble that sounded, I had no desire to join him in his endeavor.

"My life will be far too short to stand still", I explained, by then I was already on my fourth beer. "You gotta... you know, you gotta grab life and shake it. So hard and long till the goods fall out. You know?"

My path was set. I mean, what else should a guy like me do when he finds himself in the world of the Forgotten Realms, other than become an adventurer?

That was the moment that a young woman with brown hair and brown eyes entered the tavern, though I did not notice at first. It was full, it was loud and rowdy, there was laughter and singing and a scream here and there, but all in all a very friendly, happy atmosphere. I only noticed her when I saw over Hendaks shoulder, who said something about me perhaps joining an expedition to Maztica, and saw Bernard pointing into our direction. Or to be more precise, at Hendak I presume.

"Excuse me good sir. Do you might have a few moments to spare?"

The voice let him turn around to the young woman and he took a second to take her in, her state of dress, her face, her everything. She stood out in the Coronet like a sore thumb, her colorful robes made of blue and yellow silk, her coat a rich blue wool and even her belt finely engraved with... was that silver? Could be.

"Aye, that I can", my friend rumbled and turned fully to her. "What can this old warrior do for a young lady?"

"Are you to hire? As a mercenary, I mean? You look capable and hearty, like you've had formal training. I am looking for someone to help me. My families lands have been attacked and we are powerless against the onslaught. Please, you must help me." Her distress was obvious, even over noble bearing and accent. Like I said, she stood out.

"I am sorry, but I am not a sellsword nor an adventurer", Hendak answered, really sounding as if he was sorry for that. "But perhaps my friend here, a fine warrior in his own, can help you out?"

It was more spoken into my direction than hers. Oh great, fighting Trolls and Yuan-Ti, alone, armed with only a sword and an ax. No thank you, I'm out. On the other hand... I noticed that she was already looking at me with hopeful eyes. "Please good sir, you must help my family. We have helped many less fortunate over the years. Please."

"Don't dirty yourself by begging girl", I answered and stood up while doing so. "Look, I would gladly help you, but the truth is, I am but a single swordswinger and hardly worth your time in your cry for help. However, there is someone who would gladly help you, I'm sure." I gave Hendak a sneaky smile. "Wouldn't you say so brother?"

"Are you speaking about our saviors my friend?"

"That I am. That I am."


	4. Chapter 3: First Quest

_Time to meet the crew. And get ready for some slaughter. Because as simple it seems to be to kill monsters on the screen, when you are standing above their slain bodies, breathing hard and every muscle hurting, eyes burning from sweat and your entire body covered in blood... not so simple any more._

* * *

**Chapter 3: First Quest**

Our friends, as I called the group around the for me yet nameless main character of the game, returned to the Copper Coronet about ten minutes after I had gone to bed, as I was told the next morning. Sixteen children had they freed from the slavers, together with nine women of different race and age. When I saw said women and girls next morning, Hendak explaining the situation for them, I immediately understood why they had been captured and sold as slaves.

They were pretty, every last one of them, even under the dirt and the grime and rags they were wearing. When they saw me, only dressed in a pair of pants and a loose shirt, some of them made themselves smaller, trying to become invisible.

The fact that these women, some of them did not look to be older than fifteen at best, were to be sold as sex workers made my stomach turn and my blood boil. So instead of getting breakfast like I had originally planned, I stormed back up to my room, still a former pleasure room, grabbed my new equipment and made my way down to the arena.

Though not used any longer, the place was of course still there. Perhaps Hendak could open a fighting school or something here, no need to leave the space unused. For the moment however only I was there to make use of it.

I had purchased a variation of weapons I felt were just right for me, in the back of my head there were some hazy memories about me learning to fight with different weapon types. I was able to use nearly every common one, from ax to bow to spear, but was only good with a few of them. And one of them was the one handed sword, in nearly every variation known to me.

When I had stepped onto the market on the day before, I had been overwhelmed by the broad selection of things used to kill another being with. As a major trade port you could buy nearly any weapon known to mankind somewhere in the city, and be it in a specialized shop for exotic goods.

Wearing a large shield clasped to my left arm and a slightly too heavy and too large falcata in my right, I began to work up a sweat in a series of movements which came naturally to me. The weapon was not made for any grad maneuvers, it was a killing tool made for a strong man who could hack his enemies too pieces with it. Perfect for me.

When I returned to the common room about an hour later I was a bit winded but not nearly as much as I would have thought. Apparently I was a rather fit individual. I ate a light breakfast and drank some heavily watered down ale, before returning to my room and packing my things. Oh yeah, and washing and shaving. I like my sideburns, have I said that already?

Just because I was a half-orc and people practically expected me to smell like a pig did not mean I had to do so. I like going against stereotypes, so sue me.

"Azog, I would like to have words, my brother", Hendak said as soon as I stepped into the common room again. His voice was as serious as his face and I raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded. I followed him into the small kitchen, behind the bar, and leaned myself against the counter there.

"What is it?", I asked, one hand resting on the pommel of my falcata. Other than the historical ones, which were used in the times of ancient Rome and often were hooked at the lower end, this one had a sword like pommel, a round one with the edges chamfered off.

"I have spoken with Milira and her companions yesterday when they have returned to us", he began. So that was her name, Milira. Nice to know. "So has young miss Nalia DeArnise. They will travel to her families holdings after their breakfast. I had taken the freedom and already spoken to them about your wish to join them."

Oh, that will make it easier. I hoped so at least.

"And here... take these as a farewell gift."

And with that he pushed a small bag into my hands. I opened it and found three small flasks inside of it, filled with a blue liquid inside. Healing potions.

"Brother, I thank you", I answered and gave him a broad grin. "However, I must insist on paying you back one day. To the last copper."

Instead of answering he only nodded with a grim smile and offered me his hand. I grabbed his forearm as he did with mine. I felt a bit corny doing it, like in a bad fantasy movie, but at the same time it just felt right.

When I stepped out of the kitchen my eyes were practically drawn to the large table in the back, which I had not noticed before. There sat an illoustrous, colorful group of people, six at all. The large, big rashemi berserker I was able to make out across the whole distance thanks to not only his stature, but also his loud, booming voice, telling someone about just how wise and smart his companion Boo was.

I had to grin at that. With one hand grabbing my backpack and with the other the large ax I was wielding I made my way over to the table, neither demanding their attention nor hiding from it. Nalia, who was sitting with them, was detecting me anyway and whispered something to the woman sitting next to her, a blonde, small, fragile looking individual who immediately turned her large green eyes into my direction.

"Excuse me", I said to them as I was near enough not to need to scream any longer, but far away enough so that they could draw a sword if necessary. Not that it would be necessary of course, but somehow I thought it only proper. "Might I have a minute of your attention?"

There was Jaheira, which whom I had already spoken two days prior, leaning back and studying me, and Anomen sizing me up. Though there was a slight distaste visible on his face he remained silent. Good enough for me for the moment. If he would turn out to be a racist I would earn his respect anyway, of that I was sure. Or his nose would meet my fist.

"Of course my friend", the half-elven girl in the simple tunic answered and gave me a pleasant smile, showing her perfectly white teeth. She was pretty, in a very cute kind of way, and I immediately thought she would have been a Mary-Sue in most fandoms. Here, she was the main character. "Sit down and join us. Tell us, what is it you desire of us?"

I did so, next to Minsc and a small mousy girl I had beforehand not noticed. Was that Aerie? Oh yes, hiding under her mop of corn-blonde hair and inside her robes was a small elven girl. Small even for elves. I did not spend too much attention to her, I thought she would not appreciate it. Instead I turned all my attention to Milira, the de-facto leader of the small group. "I got the impression that you are a group of individuals of good heart and a strong sense of justice. I wish to join you on your journey."

"We would not send away another strong swordarm, my good man, and Hendak had told us already that you are an experienced warrior", she answered, still smiling at me and giving me the feeling that I was the best looking man in the entire universe. I could understand why every man could fall for such a woman. High charisma I would say. "However, I feel honor bound to inform you, that I am on a quest to save a childhood friend of mine who has been captured by the Cowled Wizards."

"That sounds like an adventure worthy of tale and song. I would be pleased if you allow me to join you." Perhaps I was putting it on a bit thick but I was feeling inspired.

"Very well then. I am Milira of Candlekeep and are pleased to make your aqcuintance. What is your name my friend?"

"Azog. My name is Azog."

"Well met friend Azog!" And with that Minsc gave me a hearty clap against the back, luckily for me not strong enough to send my head against the table. Only strong enough to be felt. "I am Minsc, berserker warrior of Rashemen. And this is Boo!"

"Squeek."

I stared at the small rodent he pointed at me. Well, he did look rather cuddly.

* * *

And that was how I joined the group of the young Bhaalspawn Milira of Candlekeep. Like in any bad fantasy story I met her in a tavern and joined her party there. Not that everything was roses and sunshine from there on of course, by no means at all.

For instance Anomen, like you could imagine, was not very welcoming towards me and shot me dirty looks when he thought no one would notice, while at the same time trying to impress Milira even more than before now that there was a possible rival there. Meaning me. As if. Not I thought the girl unattractive, far from it, it was just that she was the fucking main character and thus not available if you ask me. Simple as that.

After I had been introduced to the rest of the party, Aerie had only managed a shy smile while being introduced, and eating up they immediately got to work. Which means saddling the horses, checking if everything was where it should be, making last minute supply runs and planing the route we would take. Again I had to borrow something from Hendak, meaning Lehtinan to be completely honest, as I took the best horse in the small barn next to the tavern. It had been Lehtinans personal horse I was told, though he had nearly never used it. A big, chestnut rouncey, an all purpose horse strong enough to carry me without problems and also the patience to do so for a while. With the colorful name "Brown". Yeah, talk about uninspired.

And I have no idea from where I had the knowledge that it was a rouncey and not a destrier or courser. And what those were.

I noticed that Aerie was not riding on her own but was sitting in front of Minsc, whose majestic horse was easily able to carry the small, lithe elf in addition to the bald man. Of course she would not know how to ride a horse, where should she had learned it? Which brought me to the question, did I know how to do it?

"Let's go friends, we are on a tight schedule."

And with these words from Milira we were off. As my horse, sorry, Brown did exactly what I wanted her to do, it seems I knew how to ride. It felt natural and if I just allowed my body to do what it wanted without thinking too much about, it seems that it did work out well enough. For now.

After we had left the city behind us we were nearly immediately in the green and yellow hills of the surrounding landscape. The Cloud Peaks were to the north, our left, and though the land was flat compared to the mountains there, the street we were on still snaked it's way between roving hills and sparse, light forests barely worthy to be called that.

We did not have much opportunities to speak with each other, as Nalia was urging us for haste, and so I spend my time in the saddle watching the others and thinking. Not only the city of Athkatla was bigger and more diverse than depicted in the game, my new companions were of course too. They had habits, good as well as bad ones, certain behaviors, opinions and beliefs and the whole brand of human characteristics. Or elven. You know what I mean.

In the game they just did not have the option to show it and even to develop the characters to such details. Now they were real and not just simple game characters, but breathing and thinking people.

* * *

We had ridden for about four hours and were about to leave the main trading route we had so far used, a very well developed street, when Milira called for a short pause.

"We... We can't stop now. We don't have the time... Please", said Nalia in a pleading tone to her and that was the first thing I heard from the small argument when I came nearer. I had ridden at the end of the small group for most of the time and thus had not heard anything from the few short conversations my comrades had while we traveled.

"In Helms name girl, the horses need a short rest and so do the weaker in our group!", Anomen said with his most booming voice, trying not to sound insulting. At least I got the impression. "What good can we do, when we are at our weakest once we arrive?"

I did not listen any longer but just dismounted, as had Jaheria and Minsc done before me, and used the time to stretch my legs and get the blood flowing again. Riding is very useful, but also very tiring if your not used to it. And I was not. Not really at least, though my body was trying to tell my mind that I was. What a strange situation.

As I led my horse to a small stream near the street to give her some water Jaheira approached me, also leading her horse forward. Other than me did she neither use a saddle nor reins to control her beast of burden, the white mare was completely listening to her shooting voice and her calm presence. When her horse began to drink she turned to me, approaching me with the shadow of a smile on her face.

"Azog. How does your recent injuries take the travel so far?", she asked and settled down in the dry grass next to me.

"Well enough. I don't feel them at all", I answered with a broad smile, showing her my tusks without even thinking about it. "Thank you again for healing them. I must admit, your face was a welcome sight when you awoke me from my slumber, back in my cell."

"What they had done to you and the other poor unfortunate souls was barbaric", she said with anger in her voice, her face already darkening again. Damn, now I had soured the mood. "No creature, intelligent or not, should live in such a state, for the amusement of others... treated like a toy or tool."

I nodded in agreement, not bothering to answer to that. However, then I remembered something. "When... When I was first thrown into the fighting pit... They had me fight a bear. A strong but poor creature, all scared and misstreated... I don't know what happened to him... Or her, don't know if male or female. Do you perhaps know something about that?"

"We had no choice but to release the poor animals from their fate. I would have loved nothing more than to free them, but their minds were broken beyond repair. And anyway, they attacked us, urged forward by their cruel master. We had no choice", Jaheira explained to me, her voice serious and downcast. If everyone would feel about other people like she did about animals, then the world would be without war and injustice.

"I see", I just said after a while and stood up again. I got the impression that she needed a moment for herself, something hard to come by when you are in a traveling group of adventurers. Don't ask me how I knew that, I just knew. I spend the remaining short rest with checking my equipment again, trading a few words with Minsc about the proper way to relieve a goblin of it's head and tending to the horses, before Milira called us back to the road.

If Nalia was any indication, not a minute to early. Can't blame her, really.

* * *

Anomen had been the first to notice it, a small smoke trail on sky, right in our direction. Always the catious one, at least that was my impression of her, Milira ordered a halt before we arrived at the source of said smoke and slid from her horse. "I will check it out. Be back in a moment."

And with that she was already gone, vanished into the bushes. It was really impressive how easily she vanished into the shadows even if there weren't some. I had to chuckle at my own little joke. If I had not known her to be there somewhere, I would not have believed it.

"We must hurry...", Nalia whispered to Jaheira a few yards in front of me, but loud enough for me to hear. "The sooner we arrive, the better the chances we can save my home before being overrun."

"Hush child", the druid told her with a commanding tone in her voice. "Milira knows what she is doing."

And with that the small argument was settled and silence reigned again, though Nalia still fiddled with the reigns of her horse and I'm sure if she had not sat on a horse but stood on the ground, she would have hopped from one leg to the other. Though not for long, because shortly there after our leader returned, suddenly appearing on the other side from where she had vanished, her face serious.

"A group of Orogs around a small camp fire. If we are catious we can slip past them without them notic-"

"SWORDS FOR WORDS!"

And Minsc was off, giving his horse the spores and charging into the direction of the enemy.

"Well, so much for that...", I mumbled under my breath and could not help but to sigh a bit, before following him. Now they knew we were here anyway, no sense to slip past them any longer. The others had, apparently, the same ideas and followed him too.

The small group of Orogs turned out to be no less than nine of these massive brutes, carrying large, brutish swords, axes and hammers, clad in a variation of different armors cobbled together from the gods knows where. I could see Minsc's horse break through the bushes before them, him all but jumping from the horse and charging into the fray.

Of course the big guys had already heard him and had practically awaited him, three of them welcoming him with their weapons ready and their snouts showing cruel grins. I could not really concentrate on the battle because I had to dismount myself, though a bit farther away than he had done.

"FOR GLORY AND HONOR!" Anomen already charged past me and right into the melee, riding his horse right into it, practically running down one of our enemies. And suddenly there was confusion and terror and chaos everywhere.

Brandishing my broad shield I did not really charge into battle, no battle cry or something, but more or less just jogged forward and put myself directly between an onstorming Orog and Aerie... who had trouble keeping on the mighty horse which was about to break out. I would have cursed Minsc for abandoning the small elven girl in this situation, if not for the mighty clang that rang through my shield and arm and entire body as the massive head of an oversized hammer met my shield with full force.

It fucking hurt like the nine hells, even through my chain mail and steel bracers and gambeson. I had trouble remaining standing, lowering my center of gravity and pulling all my strength together, pushing against it.

However, as mighty a hammer is, especially a two handed one, it is also a slow weapon. With a step from my right leg, which I had positioned behind me, I stepped directly into my enemies range, already smelling his foul stench and musky odor. I lashed out with my falcata, carving open his thigh, before turning my entire body back and brandishing my shield again.

He screamed, partly from pain and partly from frustration I take it, and continued to attack me with his mighty swings, I think he just tried to crush me. His bad luck, because thanks to his leg wound he was suddenly much slower than before and it was easy for me to step out of his reach, even if that reach was rather large, wait out a good moment and then throw one or two attacks at him before stepping back again.

However, luck can't hold forever, can it?

Because suddenly I heard Nalia scream behind me, I think a warning, I could not really make it out. And in the corner of my eye I saw another Orog charging at me, he must have slipped by our other warriors. A mighty swing hit my shield, stunning me for a second, and then a big sword hit my head.

Ouch.

If not for my helmet, I would have been dead, thus I thought the terrible pain running through my skull as something good. Suddenly being forced to defend myself against two enemies, I was forced into the defensive. I was only able to bring my shield between attacks and step out of the most dangerous hammer swings, being forced to wait for a good chance before I could hit back.

Thankfully, I did not work alone, even if I had kind of forgotten that. Something, somewhere, clicked and the Orog with the sword yowled in pain as a small bolt from a crossbow buried itself in his side.

Using that opening I jumped forward and swung my falcata in a wide upward arc. I had luck and found an opening between his pieces of chainmail and hardened leather, tearing open his layers of muscle and fat and leathery skin, opening his innards to the sunshine. And then I stepped beside him, bringing him between me and the hammer swinger.

The now deadly wounded orog stared at the wound I had carved into his body, as if not believing it. With a look of surprise and disbelieve on his ugly face he fell down, first to his knees and then forward. The later he mainly did because I used my whole momentum to swing my weapon around in a very wide horizontal arc and carved of his head from his shoulders with a single, massive strike.

I could not help but to grin at the sight of a big, burly and ugly body falling down to the ground, soiling the earth with his black blood, the head landing beside it. Then it hit me.

I had just killed an intelligent being.

That was not an animal, no bear or wolf or cow or something.

A feeling, thinking creature with desires, dreams and perhaps even a family. Dark, amoral ones perhaps, yes, but still...

The thought banished my smile and my good mood in a matter of a single moment and all I could do was to stare at the now lifeless body. Well, not really lifeless, because the heart seemed to still pump blood through the now missing head, though only weakly and only for a few moments.

I was only saved by a grizzly death by hammer by a well aimed shot from Milira and a barrage of magic missiles from Nalia and Aerie. Saved by a group of girls. Not so bad if you ask me, but said girls being the ones in the back.

I forced myself back into the presence and concentrated on killing the remaining enemy, simple enough now that he was bleeding from several wounds and had burn marks all over his body. In the end I plunged my blade into his face, penetrating up to the brain, killing him instantly.

Anomen had remained on his horse all the time, the only of us melee fighters to do so, making real trouble for the orogs and Minsc and Jaheira had worked well together in brining down the other enemies. We lacked a bit of teamwork, something Milira did point out, but we had come through the battle without any grizzly wounds on our side.

Still... the rest of the journey I could not help but to feel slightly numb.

* * *

The Holdfast of the DeArnise family was a sight to behold, truly. Nestled atop a high, wide hill and situated right on top of a natural stone formation it was a truly formidable fortress. Again the game graphics did not do it justice, even though they were picturing it correctly. No, the simple fact was, that the beauty of it was only to be seen in real life.

However there were some things that tarnished the beauty... Like the rubble around the place, the smoke rising from the inside and the feeling of dread hanging above it. Could be because of the bodies hanging from the battlements or the burned corpses being displayed as some sort of cruel adornments in front of the, pulled up, draw bridge.

"This is it...", Nalia began, speaking out the obvious, but stopped short as she noticed something. "Wait, there's a palisade here? Then our guards fell back and..." Her voice became more somber and downcast with every word as she realized what this must mean. I only watched her from the corner of my eyes, instead preferring to study the sight before me. "... the keep has fallen. It will be hard to save now. The palisade is to the west."

I nearly felt pity for her as I heard her voice, so downcast and defeated. Her hopes of returning in time to save her home from defilement had been crushed and I felt with her. Yet there was nothing I could do, only killing those who did it, and so I remained silent. I was only a simple swordswinger, no need to draw unneeded attention to me.

"I think you should tell me just what we are up against", Milira finally said after a few seconds of somber silence, keeping her voice level and soft. Other than me she had turned fully to our employer, if you could call Nalia that, and had put a hand on her shoulder, as if to show her that she was not alone.

"I should have told you previously, but others abandoned me when they found out", the brown haired noble girl said with a pained, sad expression on her face. I could not blame others for such an action, trolls were difficult enemies at best and downright murderous at worst. Going up against them unprepared was just short of suicidal. "We are beset by dragonspawns."

Wait a minute... WHAT?!

* * *

_Surprise!_

_Okay, I think no one had seen that one coming, not even me. Not really._

_As you may have noticed, I am a friend of realistic fighting, even in fantasy. Meaning that even a simple orc can kill a powerful mage, if his arrow pierces the mages eye. In other words, even far into the story, seemingly simple encounters will still be challenging for our heroes._


	5. Chapter 4: Things are different

_Dumdidum..._

_Dragonspwans are creatures created by Tiamat, the evil Goddess of the chromatic dragons. They come in different forms and sizes, from humanoid to wallcrawling freaks, and in five different colours. Anyway, they are, in my eyes, perfect enemies for the group, as they are variable enough not to become boring and at the same time reaching from weak to downright mass murderous. If you don't know what they look like, google them. Now._

* * *

**Chapter 4: And suddenly, things are different**

It wasn't like I had problems with not fighting against trolls. I mean, like I had said before, trolls are difficult adversaries on the best of days and not high on my favorite enemy list. Not that I'm a ranger anyway, but you know what I mean.

But I had been sure that I'd fight against them, them and Yuan-Ti I mean. I was a fucking SI in a game universe, one of these guys who know anything and everything and tried to make everything better than in the game possible under normal circumstances. And bone one of the main characters love interests, usually at least. And now, BAMM, suddenly I did not know everything any longer.

Suddenly things were completely different.

Okay, not completely, but different enough for me not being able to be sure of the informations I had. Damn. Fuck. I mean... FUCK!

As we made our way to the palisade, positioned halfway down the hill on which the keep itself stood, I only half listened to the explanations Nalia gave. About the hidden passage in the servant quarters, about her father hopefully still being alive, about the adversaries we were most likely to face.

My mind was racing.

Adrenaline was pumping through my veins.

I think I had just the biggest shock of my life. Well, this life. Does that make sense? I don't know.

When we arrived at the palisade, a small fort build with a hastily constructed wall of wood protecting about five tents and a single cart filled with supplies, I still had not sorted out my thoughts. What did this mean? Was everything else different now too? Is Bodhi no longer a vampire but a lich? Was Irenicus now suddenly the good guy? Was Sarevok still alive and running a tavern in Nashkel? Was Imoen secretely an evil, crossdressing killer slaughtering the upstanding, good natured cowled wizards right now?

Well, I wouldn't go so far, but perhaps things would be different. Very, very different.

I shuddered slightly at the thought.

The guards we passed on the entrance to the small fort were clad in chainmail and proper iron helmets, reminding me of byzantian ones. Armed with bows and longswords. And their armor had a symbol emblazed onto the front, two interwinded snakes holding some sort of gem in the middle. The de'Arnise family sigil? Possibly.

Nalia practically jumped from the horse as soon as we were inside, running up to a tall, broad man clad in heavy armor, changing a few words with him before turning around to us.

"It looks like these men and women were hit rather hard by our enemy", Anomen mumbled under his breath. As I followed his gaze to a slighly larger tent and saw the lifeless, defiled corpses of some people and moaning wounded, I could not help but to agree. There were perhaps about ten to fifteen armed men and women still standing, though not necessarrily unwounded.

"Perhaps you and Aerie could look what you could do to help them my friend?", I offered a suggestion and gave him an questioning look?

"Aye, though I am a warrior in the name of Helm first, I will do what I can for those wounded in the battle." With this proclamation said he dismounted too and made his way to the tent with the wounded guards, Aerie following after him.

"Yeah, whatever", I mumbled into my no longer existing beard, watching his retreating back for a second before getting of my horse myself.

Before I could even hand it over to someone else, Milira was already on my side, again appearing out of thin air it seemed. "Azog, come with me. I'd think it's prudent for you to listen in on our conversation with our employer."

"Hm", I grunted in response, following after her. She made her way over to Nalia and the broad man. I now saw that he had salt and pepper hair, a formerly well trimmed beard he had not cared for in some time and I also noticed that he too had the sigil with the two snakes on his breastplate. Family sigil, I bet on it.

"Aye now...", he began after Milira stood in front of him. I noticed that Jaheria stood practicaly directly behind her, looking over her slightly as our fearless leader was a slithe, small woman. "So, your the woman whom Mistress Nalia has brought to help us, eh? Well, you've got your work cut out for you, sure enough."

"And just who might you be?", the druid behind Milira asked suddenly, her tone only a few nuances away from hostility. She got a sharp glance from Milira in response, but other than that, she did not react.

If the man took offense to it, he did not show it. "I am Captain Arat, garrison commander under Lord de'Arnise... until the dragonspawns drove us out. Those you see here are all that survived." Now however his face became a bit pained and downcast. "Mistress Nalia may be all that the family has left. I tried to find Lord deArnise and his sister, but I could not. Nalia may be the last."

"Let's not be hasty, shall we?", the blond woman leading us said with a kind smile. "I'm sure they will be allright."

I did not miss the thankfull glance the chestnut haired young noble shot her.

"Of course, you are right", Arat answered and tried for a smile. He failed.

"Now then, tell us what, exactly, happened here." And of course Jaheira had to destroy the slightly better moment in her cold demeanor. Well to be fair, she go to the point.

"Has Mistress Nalia not told you? We were beset by dragonspawns two tendays ago... had tunneling beasts with them, so we were attacked from above and below. 'Twas little that could be done, truly enough. We fought room to room, barricading ourselves in when need be. To the last man we fought, practically."

Id bit myself on the tongue so that I did not point out the fact that he did have left a few men.

"Once Lord de'Arnise disappeared, it was hopeless. I tried to find him, but there was naught to be done. Leading what few soldiers remained out was battle enough." Suddenly he spit onto the ground, like he had bitten into something vile. And then he immediately looked alarmed and gave Nalia an apologeptic look, to which she only tightly smiled. Anyway, he continued with his explanation. "Those beasts have shut the keep up tight. I'm hoping they will merely demand ranson for our lord... but my hope has been quickly dwindling. I you can do as Mistress Nalia asks and rid the castle of the vermin, we'd be mighty grateful. As would Lord deArnise."

For a few seconds Milira let that all sink in, as did I, before she turned to Nalia and gave her one of her heartwarming smiles. "Come my friend, let us free your home. Lead us in, will you?" And to Captain Arat she said: "Well, we'll be on our way, then. Is there a way you could help us in the retaking of the castle?"

"Yes, actually there is", he answered. "If you enter the castle and could lower the drawbridge from inside, we can draw out the enemy and engage them. It's an offer, anyway... I dislike the idea of sitting out here while someone else goes within and takes all the risks. But you are free to do as you wish."

"That's an excelent idea!", Nailia said suddenly, though she had remained silent through the entire conversation so far. On thesre words, the downcast eyes of the Captain became filled with hope again, though only a bit. "Thank you, Captain Arat; you have served my father well. Milira, we should open the bridge quickly when we've entered."

"If you need any supplies, feel free to look through what we had managed to save, but I fear it is not much", the Captain told us before retreating and leaving our small group alone. Meaning everyone in the party except Anomen and Aerie, though these two were making their way over to us too.

"Well, you heard the man", Milira said after she turned to us. "Azog, Aerie, take a look through their supplies, perhaps you can find something usefull. Everything else, leave everything you don't need here, it is best we go in light. And Jaheira, do you have a moment to talk?"

As I already trotted over to the supply cart and the others began to go through their stuff, deciding what they would need and what not, Milira and our resident half-elf druid left the palisade. When they returned a few minutes later the later one did not look to pleased, but not pissed off either.

* * *

We got into the keep itself easy enough. Though intelligent enough, the dragonspawns had not set up guards and thus had not seen our approach. Nalia found the secret entrance easily enough, simply shoving aside a few well placed branches and revealing a natural crevice on the hillside. Not directly under the keep like it had been depictured in the game. Strange.

Hidden inside was a secret door disguised as rocks, easily shoved aside after Nalia had put a key into a secret key hole. Hmm, a bit more complex than clicking on a purple area on the screen. The tunnel was dark, narrow and dusty, but in good condition and after about two hundred meters we arrived on a set of stairs leading up.

On the upper end was another door, this time sliding to the side easily enough with a bit of force. Making not a single sound. Well maintained it seemed. Aside from the clanking of our armor and the steps of our feet no sound was made, but as everything else was silent, we could as well had been a dwarven wedding, so loud we must seem to anyone trying to listen. Well, no way of changing that now.

"We've made it in", Nalia said after a heavy sigh as soon as everyone was in the room and the door closed behind us. A door now looking like a wall. "We should find Daleson first, if he's still alive, and then make our way to the courtyard and open the drawbridge."

That, however, turned out to be harder than I would have thought.

* * *

Like said before, trolls are terrible enemies. Dragonspawns, as it turned out, too. Because while they had no healing factor like these beasts did, they were more intelligent, more organized and apparently better equipped.

The first we stumbled upon were a pack of five blackspawns, small beings the size and build of dwarves, though covert in black scales and their heads adorned with two, forward pointing horns. Like the black dragons from which they descend. They had been gathered in the servant quarters into which we stumbled after crossing through the hidden guard room on the end of the tunnel, eating and laughing and drinking from a barrel of wine.

They weren't drunk enough to fall easily, but drunk enough to fall easier than when sober. And they did not call for their friends, instead throwing themselves at us without abandon, brandishing sabres and axes and knives and swords. I blocked two of them at once and in return they were hacked to pieces by Minsc and Jaheira, though the later one wasn't hacking actually but impaling them with her spear.

Room was sparse between the beds and chests and so it was rather chaotic. Anyway, Nalia and Aerie both burned one of the small buggers bad with magical missiles and a bolt of Milira found his eye, sending him to the ground dead.

The remaining too were deald with fast enough, but not before one of them jumped onto Minsc from one of the beds and bit into the large berserkers neck, trying to cut him with his axe at the same time. Aerie healed him immediately after the fight was over and bandaged his wound, but he had lost a lot of blood and looked a bit pale, though not dangerously so.

So, blackspawns then. I had found myself adjusting to the idea of fighting them in the corridors of the keep, when we learned of the butler, Daleson that there were other kinds as well. Black ones, red ones and he said he had even seen a few large blue ones, though these were walking on all fours. And of course a group of large, hulking creatures tunneling into the keepin.

"Milira, come, I have to show you something", Nalia said after the butler had left through the secret tunnel of which he had apparently not known beforehand. The young noble woman led our blonde leader to the back of the weapons chamber, ajacent to the servant quarters, and opened another secret door, through which she vanished, Milira hard on her heels.

"How many secret doors are there in this fortress?", I asked with a raised eyebrow and some sort of amusement to my voice. Though the shadow of a smile crossed Jaheira's face, no one answered to the, rethoric question.

Instead Anomen told me: "Most nobles are of feeble sort and prefer to run from a battle, instead of facing it with honor and dignity. In the order we learn th-"

"By Baervan..."

Though whispered, the comment from Aerie made us turn around, the shock and horror in her voice apparent. She stodd between the beds where we had fought the dragonspawns, the lifeless bodies of them still lying there. Aerie stared down onto something I could not make out, before stumbling back with weak legs and all but crashing against the wall behind her, her eyes wide with horror and disgust.

Then she turned to the side and puked.

Jaheira was at her side before any of us men reacted, whispering calming, elvish words into her ear, holding up her hair so that it would not get dirty.

As I stepped up to them I understood what had distress the girl so much. Between the beds, where the spawns had sad, was a human body, most likely a servant. He was of course long dead and we had not seen him from afar because he had been cut into pieces. To be eaten more easily. There was even cutlery to carve him down into even smaller pieces. Yuck.

Thinking fast, and I will always admire him for the fact that he just acted instead of saying something, Anomen grabbed a clean blanket and threw it over the remains. Kneeling next to it he offered a small prayer, first to Kelemvor and then to Helm, before turning around to face us. "We will make them pay for such evil deeds, this I swear in the name of Helm!"

While Minsc swore something similar, though with more hamsters, I only nodded numbly. I felt sick to the stomach.

* * *

Milira returned together with Nalia a few minutes later and none of us pointed out what Aerie had discovered, we felt it unnecessary to distress Nalia even more. And when they smelled the unpleasant odor from the young elves accident, they did not comment on it, for which I think everyone was thankful.

"Anomen", the lithe young woman said and stepped up to the squire, her face indicating that she had no interest in smalltalk but was serious. "Can you wield a flail?"

"Aye, my Lady", he said and a smug smile appeared on his face. I could have hit him for that alone. He made it even more unbereable by what he said then. "Even though it is a difficult weapon, I am quite skilled with it. The master at arms of the order had complimented my skill with the flail many times."

Idiot.

"Good. Here, use this, it will come in handy." Not reacting in any way to his blunder besides a patient, kind smile, she pushed a weapon into his empty hand.

* * *

It did come in handy indeed. Like Anomen said, and in that regard he had not exaggerated, flails are difficult to handle, thanks to the chain linking the head and the handle. The one was using now however was enchanted and rather easy to use, compared to a normal one at least, breaking bones, smashing heads and pulling the warmth out of everyone it hits.

"You stay here, I will sneak forward and try to take a look", Milira had said, after we had relocated from the servant quarters into the weapons cache, and with that slipped out of the door already, silent as a shadow.

In stunned silence we waited, with the exception of Boo who squeeked now and then, before she returned. "There are nine of them in the main hall, dead ahead, and a larger red spawn with them. They are drinking and eating and when we are silent I think we can slip past them, but it is a risk. What will it be, fight or flight?"

She gave us a questioning look and after she saw the serious expression on Minsc face she understood without any of us saying anything. "Well, alright... Aerie, Nalia, do you both have a fireball prepared?"

"Y-Yes."

"Yes, I have."

"Good. I want you to..."

She explained her battle plan to us, a simple one of which we could not screw up much, and then we set out already. Our two mages threw a fireball each into the fray and then Minsc, Jaheira and Anomen would charge into the hall with their weapons brandished. My job was it to secure the second set of stairs leading up to our two spellslingers, protecting them from harm, while from the other one the others charged down.

It was easy enough and the two fireballs send three of the blackspawns to the ground immediately, their bodies only smoking corpses, and Minsc, Anomen and Jaheira easily ran into the backs of the still confused and dazed monsters. But then the redspawn, who was a descendant of a red dragon and thus immune to fire damage, retaliated with a spell of his own.

And suddenly a scorching ray of heat shot from his fingertips, crashing into Nalia's chest and sending her to the ground with a abrupt and short scream of terror and pain. Luckily for her, Aerie was right next to her.

"Kill the caster!", Jaheira yelled over the uproar of the battle and as much as I would have loved to do so, I could not, as I was beset by two of the blackspawns trying to get past me.

Snarling and screaming they threw their attacks against me and all I could do was to bring my shield between their blades and me to keep them from dismembering me. At least at first. For a few moments they were like whirlwinds trying to overtake me and under every hit against my shield I shuddered slightly, then the withdrew, only a step, but enough. With a sudden movement I pushed my shield forward into the face of one of them, sending him to the ground as he lost his footing on the stairs.

With my right hand I lashed out, swinging my weapon and embeding it in my other enemies arm before withdrawing it and hastily bringing my shield between his blade and my body. A loud clang could be heard ad metal hit metal, then again I attacked and this time my blade found his head... where it did no damage except break of a few of his scales.

Damn, they do have tough bones, I give them that.

My hesitation was enough for an attack to come through my, at the moment not existing, defense and with a wild swing my enemy hammers his sabre against my upper tight, chaffing of a few rings of my armor but not doing any more damage. Even though protected, it did hurt and my face became a mask of displeasure.

As I stood on the upper end of the stairs I could see most of the battle and it was going well. The one I had pushed down the stairs was getting back to his feet but found himself already engaged by Minsc, three more of his comrades had been killed. That left the one attacking me and one other who was beset by Anomen and Jaheira, by now swinging a blade made entirely out of flames. And the red one...

He was lying on the ground gasping for air, his neck sporting some grizzly wounds where Milira's twin daggers had found their mark. How did she get behind him so quick and without me noticing her slipping past?

The battle was over soon, I killed the one trying to overpower me with a mighty blow against his stomach and then pushing my blade straight into his chest. The others fell easily enough too.

"Are you able to go on?", Milira asked with worry in her voice as Nalia approached the group going through the belongings of the now dead enemies. Her robe was singed on her upper chest area, but the wound was closed already. Healing magic is something grand, truly.

"Do not worry yourself over me, Aerie has taken care of it", she answered and tried to play it down. Though her pain was obvious, everyone just accepted her words and did not comment on it. Was that common behaviour for those used to adventuring? A practical approach to things it seemed.

We were stopped in what we were doing when a door was opened nearby, in a not so silent manner, and we heard rough, brutish voices speaking in a, I must admit, complicated sounding, throaty language. Because other than in some video games, monsters can move around.

* * *

I sat in the kitchen on some bags of flour, my left boot off and my breeches pulled up so that Jaheira could work effortlessly on my injured leg. The battle following the one in the main hall had been brutal. This time we did not have a battle plan and in the struggle one of the spawns, a fast fellow with a hefty axe, had gotten past my defense and buried his weapon to the bone in my lower leg. With me practically no longer able to move I was as good as out of the battle and all I could do was grab one spawns leg and hinder him from moving.

The sad part is, the hit injuring me had not even been targeted at me, but at one of my comrades. Don't ask me whom, I can't remember.

You remember the small portraits of your characters on the right side of your screen, the red part when the character is hit? Yeah well, turns out, it can RUIN YOUR FUCKING DAY!

Because it hurts like, I tell you. With the adrenaline gone and the rush of battle over, everything left was the knowledge that we have won, as well as hot, throbbing pain driving you insane. I hissed every time something touched my leg even a bit and nearly screamed when Jaheira pulled off the boot to get to the wound, but I had managed to bite it back. Otherwise I would not only have alerted everyone not yet knowing of us, I would also have become the laughing stock of the other guys.

Thankfully, Jaheira did not comment on it but just raised a single eyebrow as I took in a sharp breath when she began to prob the wound. She even gave me that smug look I could not stand at all, but she remained silent. She only started to recite a prayer to her goddess, Mielikki I think, and tenderly held my wounded leg. About ten seconds later a warmth spread from her hands into my foot, centered on the wound, and I felt a tickle as the wound closed itself.

As it was done she simply stood up and said: "Remain here for a few more moments. It will still be sore."

"Aye, thank you", I told her, but she had already turned around and had her attention at Milira who had just came into the room.

"Well, good, the floor is empty with the exception of us. Good work all", she informed us and gave us a broad grin, before turning to me. "Azog, how is the food?"

"He will be fine", Jaheira said in a cool voice before I could even open my mouth. Well, yes, but I would have preferred to say it myself. Well, anyway, I just nodded to that, no need to get angry over something stupid like this.

"Good." No longer caring about it Milira got back to business. It was funny, I think, that this small woman barely over twenty was calling the shots in a group like this and everyone actually listened. Anomen was, I think, taken by not only her beauty but also her charisma. Aerie was, well, Aerie. Minsc was a born follower and gladly obeyed her commands. Nalia was still feeling like the outside in the group, I think, and thus treated softly. Jaheira however... She did challenge her, at least that was my impression. "Anomen, Jaheira, Azog, you secure the eastern door to the courtyard. Be ready to barricade it. Nalia, Aerie, cover me. Minsc, be ready to charge out when I'm in trouble."

"And what will you do?", asked Jaheira, her voice a bit cold.

Milira smiled at that. "Well, I will open the gate, what else?"

"My Lady, surely you will not go out there unprotected!"

Though I would hardly use the same words as he did, I had the same thoughts as Anomen had.

"Do not worry my friends", she answered him with a nice, friendly smile. And somehow, this smile was also very mocking, even if I don't know how she managed that. "They will not see me at all."

* * *

She was right, they did not see her.

But they saw us. By the time I had put on my boot again the others were only waiting for me, getting ready to protect the door from anyone trying to get in. And with anyone I do not mean other blackspawns, but three beasts the size of boars and with the same temperament. Only that they had blue scales, a large horn on their snout and shot lightning from the mouths.

It was not really a fight, we only tried to keep them from getting in and they tried to get on to us and eat us. Jaheira got lucky with one of her thrusts of her spear and wounded one of them, and in a moment of stupid bravery Anomen flung his shield to the side and bashed the flail of the ages against one of the beasts' head.

And then suddenly the drawbridge was lowered and a quick glance up told me that Milira was up at the gate. Only that she was nearly not there. I mean, I was not able to make her out. Not really. I knew that she had to be there, so I saw her, but otherwise I would not have noticed her. Really... strange.

"Damnable monsters, foul creatures!", the half-elven druidess yelled over the screeching of the beasts, but it was drowned out by the deafening crash of the drawbridge being hitting the stone and the waiting soldiers rushing into the courtyard, yelling and screaming.

Then the screaming of blackspawns pouring into the courtyard from the upper floor mixed into it and all I could think of was: Well, here we go.

* * *

I can't stand it when people fight. I hate it, I really do. Especially when they are people I like and care about.

I can't say I really care about Milira, I did not know her enough, but she was the kind of person you just had to like. She had this charisma which pulled people to her, this smile that told you that everything would be all right.

We had won the fight in the courtyard, not the least because of the simple yet effective plan Milira had formulated. With us distracting the ones in the courtyard, even though we had not known what to expect back then, she slipped out of the other door without being noticed and opened the gate, allowing for reinforcements to come in.

Minsc had gotten a nasty bruise in the fighting and again I found myself in the care of our healers, this time because one of that damnable blue beasts had managed to overpower me and got his, very strong, jaws around my right upper arm, breaking the bone and only letting go when I plunged a dagger into his eye. We had won the fight and even with only two people dead, acceptable in a militaric mindset, and yet Jaheira had critized Milira for her behaviour.

"That was not only dangerous, that was stupid. You could have gotten yourself killed", she had said in a tone that was borderline between hostile and worried.

"But I did not and I gotten out in one piece, have I not?", she had answered with a smile which would have worked on anyone. Except Jaheira.

And while Anomen was using the power of Helm to heal my arm, and looking mighty smug about it the whole time, the two women were in the kitchen and yelling at each other. I was nearly thankfull for the loud boasting of Minsc, drowning out the voices from the kitchen only a hallway away.

I have no idea what they had said to each other, but once the two women came back from the kitchen they did not give each other another glance. Between them was this coldness that reminded me of a blizzard and the looks they shot into each others directions when they thought the other wouldn't notice were downright hostile.

And we others stood there not sure how to deal with that situation. Awkward.


	6. Chapter 5: Getting Pummeled

_Time to finish the first quest._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Getting Pummeled**

As we made our way up to the second floor the athmosphere was tense. Not only were we all unsure of what we would find there, including me, the still lingering hostility between Milira and Jaheira was weighting heavy on us too.

I had always found it strange that there were no stairs from the main floor down to the cellars. Turns out, there were, in the courtyard no less. Only were they blocked with rubble and destroyed furniture, making the only way down to the torture chambers the secret stairs on the upper floor.

Nalia had given us an accurate description of the floor, a series of sleeping quarters, a solar, the library, surrounded by an encircling hallway, and at least that part of my memory remained true. Despite us being tired and weary, we kept on pushing forward, we were in a hurry. So that means no sleeping either. So much for refilling the mages spells.

There were a lot of rooms to check and search for enemies possibly falling into our backs and we soon developed a routine for each door we found ourselves in front ot: Milira would put her ear to the door and listen for possible trouble. Then either would she pick the lock or I would kick the door open. And that is harder then it looks, let me tell you.

Our front fighters would pour in and I would block the door with my massive frame if needed, or follow them in, depending on what we would encounter. There were seven blackspawns sleeping soundly on the ruined bed of Nalias father, they had even slepped trough the trouble downstairs and in the courtyard.

"Such a sleep I would like to have", I mumbled with a half amused grin and could not help but chuckle. When I noticed the glare Nalia shot into my direction however I swallowed it down and forced my expression back into a serious one.

Milira slit their throats with her dagger, sistematically killing them in their sleep without waking up the others. I was a bit astonished by such coldness, but well, that's a rogue for you. We would kill them anyway, so why not effectively when they can't fight back? I could understand that logic, even if I was not really happy with it.

Minsc, as I noticed, had turned away from the scene unfolding, happily ignoring it. Well, I should have done the same.

Anomen however...

"My Lady, even if I understand your reason behind it, I must protest against such a behaviour", he began to adress the half-elf rogue with a tone that was borderline scolding and angry, right after the deed was done and we were about to leave the room to search the next room. And perhaps it was just me hearing it, but I thought it was also "Oh-So-Holier-Than-Thou". "That was unhonorable and downright murdourus action. Honor dictates that we should have given them the chance to fight back and send their souls to their dark goddess in battle, not in their sleep."

"You mean like the servants had a chance to fight back?", Nalia protested, getting herself involved into the argument.

What was this, a fucking democracy? We were right in the middle of enemy territory, any moment more trouble could come across the corner, and they were beginning to discuss methods of killing monstrous adversaries. Well, that's and adventure group for you, a group of people banding together and the leader having only so much authority as those following were willing to give.

"I mean, my dear Lady, that it was an unhonorable act not worthy of those following a noble goal!"

Well, I could understand him. I was standing in the corridor, half the time watching for blackspawns or something else coming across the corner and half the time looking to those from the group fighting. There was Milira talking sweetly and smiling, defending herself and telling Anomen that he had not muddied his honorable self one bit. Anomen speaking out hotly against such actions. Nalia protesting. Jaheira giving sarcastic comments. Aerie trying to play peacemaker and failing because no one was even hearing her.

Only Minsc and I were keeping ourselves out of it. Perhaps Boo really was the smartest in the whole group.

"Guys, friends, the deed is done now, there is no more need to fret over it any longer", Milira finally said with strained patience. "We will have more time to discuss this once we have freed the castle. So please, Nalia, this is your home, where should we go now?"

"Um, this way." And with that the discussion was over. For the moment.

Though I did hear Anomen grumbling over it and saw Jaheira shooting murderous looks into his direction.

* * *

There was only one more fight on this level, in the library. Milira heard sounds coming from the room and turned around to us to give orders, when the door was already opened directly behind her.

Acting on instinct, and using the obvious confusion in the tall redspawns face, Minsc and I jumped forward while Milira just vanished. I think it was the adrenaline in my blood which I had to thank that I did not immediately ask how she did that but just kept on acting on the situation. I did not have my falcata in hand and thus just pushed my shield forward, while Minsc swung his axe and buried the blade in the spawns shoulder.

We all stumbled forward together, our enemy screaming anc screeching and hot breath coming from his snout, and suddenly he was laying on the ground and I on top of him, my shield between us. While Minsc had managed to pull back fast enough and now jumped over us to engage the other beings in the room, I had to deal with the asshole below me. He scratched, he kicked out, he tried to bite me and he even tried to set me on fire.

I acted on pure instinct. My elbow found his snout with a terrible blow, I think he lost a few teeth, and I managed to pull out a dagger from my belt. It could have been over, had he not suddenly bucked and threw me of him, sending me to the ground in a loud thud. And suddenly he was on my, throwing all his weight onto me and grabbing my head with both his clawed hands. Even though I was wearing my helmet, two of his claws he managed to get around my protection and left a terrible burning pain on my nose and cheek where he scratched me.

With all my strength, of which I had a lot, and the power of fearing for my fucking life I tried to push him off me, bringing my legs between myself and him and then throwing him off. He stumbled back, right into... the point of Jaheira's spear, pushed into his neck from behind with the force of an angry druidess. To be fair, I think she had cast _Bull's Strength_ on her earlier.

"Thanks, I thought I was done for", I told her as she pulled me back to my feet. As she did not even bulge while doing it and her muscles were a bit more prominent than normally I'd say yes, she did have cast _Bull's Strength,_ making her as strong, or even stronger than me. In response she only gave me a court nod and turned away already, busying herself with looking after Minsc, whose left eye was swollen and bloodied.

Aside from my rather embarrasing fight against the redspawn, who had a rather nice looking scimitar on his hip, the fight had been over quick. The remaining three blackspawns had been overwhelmed quickly, falling to Minsc's axes and Anomen's flail, as well as a dagger from Milira who had plunged it deep into the eye of one of them. How did she got right into the fighting and past me without me noticing it?

We found another head for the _Flail of Ages _between the ruined bookshelves and books with torn out pages. It seemed these monsters revelled in destruction and ruining things, regardless if there was profit in it for them or not.

"Milira...", I began as I stepped up to our lithe leader, who turned around from the pile of ruined papers she was going through. "Say... How did you do that? I mean, when the dragonling opened the door, you just vanished. At least, I thought you did."

Her smile became beaming again and then turned into a broad grin big enough to eat a banana sideways. Did they have bananas in this world? Or, I mean, here in Amn? I had to check next time we're back in Athkatle. Anyway, she grinned at me like the cat who ate the canary. "That, my dear comrade, is a secret of my trade."

I rolled with the eyes. "Oh come on, I don't want to learn your secrets or anything, I doubt I could use it anyway, I'm just interested in what my companions have as skills. That's all. I mean, not everyone is as obvious as our friend with the hamster."

"Fair enough", she answered with a laugh as clear as bells ringing. "I have learned to use the shadows to my advantage. Some would say every thief can do so, but I have learned to take it a bit further. You could say that I can cloak myself in the shadows like others throw a coat over themselves, if you understand what I mean."

I did. She was a shadowdancer. Which hadn't existed in ADnD if I recall correctly, or at least not in Baldur's Gate II. Well, seems like this was another change from what I coul remember. At least not an unpleasant surprise.

* * *

"This is Aunty's bedroom. I hope she is still alive", Nalia informed us as we stood in front of the last closed door on this level. I knew that in the game this was were the player would meet Nalia's really, really bitchy aunt and her suffering bodyguard, but I could not be so sure on this occasion. So I readied my weapon in preperation, as did everyone else.

Like at the doors we had opened before on this floor, Milira listened closely if she could make out anything. After a few seconds she nodded to us and stood up again, hurrying back behind the protective backs of Minsc and me.

"Ready...", she whispered and we positioned ourselves to storm into the room. "Go!"

A crash, a bang, the door was thrown open under the combined weight of two massive warriors throwing themselves against it, then screaming and terror.

"AAARRRGH!"

"STAND BACK!"

"EEEEEHHH!"

"Hendron, no!"

The last one was coming from Nalia who screamed in a high pitched voice trying to be heard over the sudden high level of noise. She pushed herself through the bodies of the group to stand in front, facing the man who had his sword already high and ready to attack us. "It's all right Hendron", she said to him, trying to sound calming. "These are the men and women I have brought with me to liberate the keep. We've taken back the lower floors and the gate is open once more. What has been happening?"

He relaxed, though slowly, and lowered his broadsword. Minsc and I did the same, no longer feeling threatened by the man. "Your aunt and I did not make it to the escape tunnel, so we barricaded ourselves in here", he began to explain, his voice a bit shaky. "I... I haven't seen your father since the keep fell though, I'm sorry. I had movement outside and several times they tried to bang in the door, but they."

"Nalia dear, ist that you?", came a soft voice and Hendron, the bodyguard, stepped aside to let Nalia's aunt step forward. She was a woman past her prime, her temples grey, her face framed with wrinkles, though there were still traces of beauty left. Not few by the way. She could have been an attractive woman for her age, if not for the suddenly hard and stern expression she was wearing when she gazed upon us.

"Look at you, dear! Filthy and wandering the halls with these, these, riff-faff like some kind of savage! What will the servant's think?", she began to rant at her unfortunate niece and if she had not just called me a riff-raff, I could have found it funny. Except of course, that she was an utter bitch. "I have told you a thousand times, this behaviour is not becoming for a young lady of your standing. You will only end up like your poor dead mother."

"Aunty, please!" Nalia was mortified, but it seemed there was no stopping to the raging of that woman. Perhaps she had finally found a vent to let go off her fear after several stressfull days.

She cast a critical eye over us, giving me the feeling like I was some kind of dirt under her nails. "And what have you to say for yourselves, bringing all this filth and dirt into these halls?", the older noble woman began to rant at us. "Do you have no respect for your betters?!"

"Not all of us are of low birth my Lady", Anomen told her as her gaze landed on him and he actually held his ground against her cold look.

"Ah yes, I recognize you. The young Lord Delryn, the son of Cor. What would your father think if he knew what company his son keeps? Your actions and those you travel with speak for themselves, I would say." And before he could answer, her eyes landed on me. Well, it was bound to happen. "Nalia, you dare to bring such a man-beast into your families home! This is an outrage that will not go unpunished! I demand-"

Every other word was cut off as Hendron wrapped a cloak around her shoulders and firmly escorted her out, giving me an apologeptic look while doing so. Nalia followed them halfway down the corridor with a few placating cries on her lips, dutifully ignoring the demands to follow along out of the danger.

"Minsc is against kicking butt of a woman who can not fight and Boo says, mean words are not evil, but this woman deserves a good kick in the butt for insulting our friend!"

No one protested against that, even if Milira laid a hand on Minsc's shoulder to calm him down a bit, and as Nalia returned with a nervous smile on her face she said: "I am very sorry about that. My aunt is a good enough person, but old and very set in her ways. I'm afraid she does not approve of dealing with her _lessers_." And turning to me she added: "I apologize for her words, it was uncalled for to use such foul language against those wo would risk their life to help us."

"Don't worry, I have heard worse", I told her with a shrug of my shoulders. "If I would act out against everyone who would say unkind words to me, I would be a mass murderour."

"Ahhh, friend Azog is good man!", the big, bald man from Rashemen said with a broad grin and clapped on my shoulderd. "Boo says, evil deserve good kick in butt, but mean words are not evil!"

"Uhhh... yeah, thanks..."

"Come, there's an entrance to the cellar in the solar, just through here", Nalia said with a still slightly tired and pained expression, leading us to the last doorway. The solar itself was a bright, well lit room with myriads of plants providing a friendly athmosphere. At least, they would have, had those storming the castle not burned everything in it. There was an open, normaly secret door and above it the last remains of a wall tapestries could be seen, most likely normaly hiding the door.

A single, curved staircase lay behind it, leading into the darkness of the cellar.

"Azog, would you go first? You can see in the darkness, right?", Milira asked me and looked at me with a questioning gaze. I nodded at her and stepped onto the staircase, hearing how they fell in line behind me, though with a bit of distance between us. I admit, I was very nervous. I had no idea what I would find down there, beside of the final battle of this quest.

I had to stop thinking like that. This wasn't a game any longer, this was real for god's sake, um, Tempus' sake. This was no quest, there would be no experience points at the end, no level up. The finall battle could easily not happen because the leader of the group of spawns had decided to flee instead of fighting us. I mean, I would do something like that. Most likely.

I arrived at the end of the stairs and found myself in a dark, dread room filled with dirt, old boxes and opened chests. And a bit of spare furniture, as well as another staircase leading up, blocked though with rubble. No enemies though, for what I was thankfull. We crossed it and after checking for any enemies we opened the only door, this one leading to the torture chamber. We were immediately attacked by the smell of rotting flesh, burned bodies and excrements.

All about us hung chains, rusting and silent, cages filled with carcasses lining the walls in intervals. There was a big brazier filled with irons, recently used ones, a solid reck stood next to it, a lifeless body on top of it. It was disgusting and horrible to see.

I heard Anomen take in a sharp breath and the others gasping, Jaheira sending a small prayer to Silvanus. Aerie was wide eyed and stood silent, her face as white as a sheet, her knees most likely trembling.

Nalia said something I did not listen to, I had to fight down the sickness creeping up in my stomach, clenching my fists so hard that my knuckles were most likely turning white already. Perhaps it were the memories linked to this body, the experiences I had not made but my mind somehow remembered, which helped me stand it through without emptying my stomach.

We made it through the torture chamber without anyone of us loosing their dinner, Aerie being carried by me as I strode through the room with long steps and holding my breath while doing so. The stench was terrible and I felt like I would need to wash my clothing for at least two hours before I would be comfortable enough to wear it once again.

The large, lit room we stepped in after that was not much better, though at least the stench was of a different sort. To our right were the prison cells, to our left a single door. Minsc changed a few words with Milira and all I could make out were _burrowing_ and _gone_. So, the umber hulks were gone? Had the leader of the merry spawn band also left with them?

"Th-Thank you Azog...", Aerie said softly to me as I let her down again, though still holding her arm as she was a bit weak on the knees. She did not look me in the eyes as she then said: "I'm sorry... I'm sorry I'm so weak... I promise, I'll try to be less of a burden."

"You better do girl", Jaheira hissed about a meter away from us, yet I ignored it. Like I had said before, it brings nothing but trouble to engage in an argument while we are somewhere dangerous. Aerie did not and she looked like she had just been hit with a whip.

"Nonsense", I said with a grim smile. "If it weren't for my male pride, I would not have set a single foot in there."

The small elf tried to give me a tentative smile, but she failed somewhat short. I guess she wasn't in the mood to smile. Neither of us was, not really, not even me. I just did so for the sake of the others. We searched the room and the prison cells for clues and except the many tracks of clawed feet, there were none. Finally Milira asked our employer: "What is behind that door?"

The door she was speaking about was a large, massive oaken one, simple but well made. The family signil of the noble family de'Arnise, the two snakes with the gem in the middle, was engraved into the wood. And it was old. If not for the tracks vanishing under it, we would have thought unused for ages. "The family crypts", Nalia answered finally after a few seconds of silence.

Oh yes, right. Anyone else smelling a boss fight coming up?

* * *

The crypts were as dark as the inside of a donkey's ass. Heh, an ass' ass. Hah. Gotta keep that one for later.

Anyway, it was as dark as it could get, no light coming from anywhere. Except of course the torches my companions were carrying or, in case of Nalia and Aerie, the enchanted items which were now gleaming in a soft, blue light. I stepped down the large staircase into the crypt itself, the light revealing more and more of its, ruined, beauty.

Not that I needed the light for that, but at least then I saw it in color and not only in black and white. It was a long room, build like a chapel, with large mosaics depicturing scenes of honor and strength, marble statues adorning the room. But now the statues were torn down, the mosaics were painted with crude pictures of death and unkind words, the whole room smelled of death and defilement.

I heard inhale sharply and Minsc mutter something about evil and buttkicking, when a voice came from the darkness. "So, the brave adventurers have found their way into my lair, huh?"

It sounded arrogant and cocky, like a common brawler on some street corner, not like a great conquerer. But there was this growl to it which gave it a dangerous edge. I blinked and tried to make something out in the darkness beyond the shine of our torches, seeing the large altar of the gods and some forms below it. And movement.

"Who are you and why have you come to my home?!", Nalia screamed, arrow nodged, voice tight.

"Ah, yes, the daughter of the Lord. He was a fighter this one..." A chuckle. "He told us he would tell us nothing. He didn't. But that is allright. I only wanted his screams anyway. Huhuhuhu."

Next to me Anomen tensed and his face turned into an expression of rage. I too could feel my blood boil, but I fought down the urge to rush ahead, that would only get me killed. The Fighter-Priest then yelled:"Step out of the darkness and face justice, monster!"

"As you wish. Huhuhuhu."

He wasn't a dragon, not really, but some cross between a dragon and a human. A halfdragon perhaps? Another spawn of whose species I could not identify? I have no idea. All I know is, he was blue, massive and pummeled me with a gigantic morningstar before I knew what hit me. Battlescreams were yelled, spells were cast, other beasts jumped from the darkness and battle was joined.

Milira had given us orders how to act when we were engaged and I did my job as good as I could: Getting hit by so many, so heavy blows that every thief or mage or even ranger would be dead three times over. With the exception of Minsc, he could withstand such an onslaught for a while too.

"DIE, IN TIAMAT'S NAME!", the massive creature yelled as he swung again, nearly breaking my arm as hit weapon hit my shield and I did not manage to step out of the way in time. Had Aerie not cast stoneskin on me beforehand, most likely saving my life with it, he would have rendered my arm useless most likely.

"Not today my friend, not today...", I replied under my breath to the religious zealot. Beside of him there were four more spawns, three red ones and one rather terrifying green one with large wings, reminding me of a wyvern. They threw fire and acid at us, clawing and slashing and the redspawns engaging our party with large swords, while the greenspawn was more of a wild beast.

I parried and dodged, stepped out of the way of the most dangerous swings, bashed my shield into the face of one of my attackers, parried again and dodged again. In essence, that was all I could do, there was no opening for me to attack myself. Every muscle in my body burned, my eyes were stinging with sweat in them, my breath was coming ragged, I felt like I had been trampled by a horde of buffalos, adrenaline was pumping through my veins, I bled from several cuts and small stab wounds and three barely humanoid beasts were trying to disengage my head from my shoulders. In short, I had the time of my life.

They fell one after another. The first was the greenspawn, held down by magic from our two arcane casters, then the body pierced by several crossbow bolts and finally released of the agony by Minsc cutting off it's head. The second one was one of the redspawns, Anomen striking him down with divine power. The last two fell under the combined power of my companions, one of them a dagger in his belly, the other one freezing to death thanks to a spell from Jaheira. Ouch.

In the end there was only the leader left... still grinning madly.

"A fight worthy of Tiamat! FOR THE DRAGAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The battlecry turned into a bloody scream as an arrow pierced his eye.

"Die you Monster!", Nalia, of course the one who had shot and luckily hit his eye, yelled at him, her face a mask of rage and hurt.

He did. After Anomen broke his leg with a swing of his flail, Jaheira pierced his other leg and Minsc buried one of his axes in the monsters head. He stood there for a few more seconds, I think only held upwards by the weapon embedded in his head, before he fell backwards and hit the ground with a strangely deafening sound in the otherwise rather silent hall.

I followed suit shortly after, when Nalia ran to the lifeless body of her father and screamed something I could not remember. I think it was the blood loss. Or the sudden lack of adrenaline. Or both. Whatever the reason, I blacked out before I even hit the ground.

* * *

When I woke up again I found myself inside a tent. Someone had taken off my armor, bandaged my wounds, of whom I had a lot if only supperficial ones, and obviously taken great care of me. I still felt bad, hungry and thirsty too, but at least it did not hurt too badly. Grabbing my pants and slipping them on I practically crawled from the tent.

I was in a small campsite. Beside of the one I had just come from there were three more tents, from one of them came a loud snoring voice. I could see our horses, unsaddled, standing in the distance plus another one I had not seen before. Did we get a new member to our party?

Before I could dwell on it the sound of Jaheira's voice cut through the darkness, though still silent enough not to wake our companions. "Ah, you are awake my friend. Minsc was most distressed over you collapsing right after the deed was done", she said as she stepped into the shine of the fire from behind a tree.

"Why are you over there and not here by the fire?", I asked a bit confused.

"I prefer to walk periodically around the campsite when I take watch", she explained to me with a tone that gave me the impression the question I had just asked was idiotic. Yet while she said it she took a place at the low fire and gave me a sign to do the same. "Eat and drink and then get back to bed. You need your strength."

There was some stew left and while it tasted like crap I ate it anyway because I was as hungry as a dragon.

"What happened after I blacked out?", I asked my companion between two bites. With a bit of ale the food was even edigble.

She scoffed, not looking at me but taking care of the fire. The trick was not to make it burn bright but warm and to make it last, hopefully through the night. "We found the dead body of the Lady's father. We came to late to save him or the castle." A short pause. Then she added: "The most noble Lady Nalia de'Arnise has decided to remain traveling with us after she had been faced with the decision of either marrying the man she was promised to or be shunned from her home she knew so far."

I raised an eyebrow at her angry tone and the way she spoke of Nalia. Had something happened to irge her anger? I mean, more than even before. However I remained silent as I bit off some bread and chewed on it. As she did not eloberate on our situation we sat there in relative silence for a while, with the exception of the snoring, before I asked her: "And the eigth horse?"

"A pack horse. Our most glorious leader Milira had in her grand wisdom managed to secure us a few more supplies from those we had saved", she answered still without looking at me.

Wow, there was someone really angry. "Jaheira, I don't know what had happened between the two of you, but I..."

I did not finish the sentence as she send me a deathly glare. "You are right, you don't know. You don't know anything about her or me or what has happened. So you'd be best advised to not interfere in things you have no knowledge of."

"I thought that is what adventurers do?" To that she did not answer, she only scoffed and turned her head away. Seems she did not want to speak about it.

* * *

_So, which Quest next? As no one is giving vomment's anyway so far, I think I'd just roll a die and decide. Otherwise, first comment to suggest a questline wins._


	7. Chapter 6: Back in town

_Well, though I had felt rather inspired the last days, I had to rewrite and rewrite the second half of this chapter again and again and again. Thus I't had taken a bit longer than the other chapters._

_Anyway, more things will change, a new character will make his premier and Azog will only get more confused._

* * *

**Chapter 6: Back in town**

I had thought the athmosphere when we rode towards the de'Arnise fortress had been tense. Then we rode back to Atkathla and the travel in the opposite direction seemed to have been a nice holiday. Nalia was downcast over the loss of her father, her home, everything she had known. Jaheira and Milira did not talk to each other and rode on the opposing ends of the small column. Anomen was grim. Aerie was sad. And I was miserable because my whole body still hurt.

We arrived in Athkatla without being held up this time, though we still needed more time than the first time. No wonder, on our journey back we were not hurried along by a distressed Nalia. Come to think of it, she had not said a single word beside the barest neccesarities to any of us. I turned my gaze to her, as we were riding rather close to another, and saw her downcast look and her miserable appearance, eyes sunken in, slightly pale. I would have loved to do something for her, but the wound was too fresh. So I remained silent.

As we arrived on the gates a pair of amnian soldiers tried to check our saddle bags, but a single look at our weapons and the sigil of the Order of the Radiant Heart on Anomen's breastplate and shield let them change their minds. Perhaps it was also the dark gaze from Jaheira, I'm not sure. Or our weapons.

"Where to now?", came the voice of the female druid once we were inside the city itself. I needed all my willpower not to roll with my eyes at the obvious way she was trying to provoke Milira.

"Let us return to the Copper Coronet. We will decide what to do then", answered the female half elven rogue who led us. I slowly got the impression that this woman was a saint, as she had apparently endless amounts of patience. She had to, if she was to lead such a colorful group as this one.

"I will take my leave here and return to the headquarter of the Order my Lady", we were informed by Anomen suddenly as we reached the first crossroad, though he made it sound like he was speaking to Milira only. "I'm sure they will be delighted to hear my report. I will join you in the establishment formerly in the hand of that foul man Lehtinan as soon as I can."

"Take your time, no need to return too soon." This mumbled comment from Jaheira only I was able to make out, as I was directly behind her. Or at least only I had heard it, as no one reacted to it.

"As you say", Milira said aknowleding Anomen, smiling at him.

We parted ways after we exchanged farewells, Anomen making his way to the temple district, we keeping on our way toward the slums. Somewhere between the city gates and our destination we were forced to dismount and lead our horses on their leashs. When we finally arrived at the Copper Coronet it the afternoon was half gone and the city was steaming hot.

I was glad to get out of the sun and into the cooler interior of the Tavern. However what I was not glad about was the fact, that inside the walls of the inn it was more crowded than outside on the streets. At least business was up and running again it seemed, which was good for my fellow former slaves.

Bernard managed to make a desk big enough to hold us free, he had the passed out drunkards sitting there thrown out, and the first round of ale was for free, though Jaheire retreated to her room immediately and thus I had two ale to drink. Works for me.

* * *

I was on my fourth ale when Hendak sat down next to me on the table. As it had been not even evening I had slowed down after the first ale and just sat there for a whole while before even sipping on my second one. Aerie had left us too and Minsc was engaged in a very animated conversation with a traveler from Rashemen, leaving only Milira and me at the table and for a long time neither of us had said anything.

Finally she had turned towards me and had said: "You have fought valiantly in our adventure. I had not yet the opportunity to thank you for your part in freeing the Keep. I thank you for standing with us and risking your life for us."

I had raised a single bushy eyebrow at her. "You're welcome. I had asked to join you in your endeavors and I plan to go through with this, as long as you don't start selling little children into slavery or start building an evil empire... Except when I could become the Grand Marschall. I would look good in a fancy armor with spikes and skulls on it."

"You certainly would my friend", she had said and laughed a bit. It had been a refreshing sound and balm for my ears after the rather tense athmosphere throughout the whole day. "But no, I am not planning to start a war of conquest any time soon. If I would, you'd be one of the first I'd inform."

"Ah, good to hear. May I recommend the Bloodstone Lands as a location to be conquered? It has great potential and is remote enough that the Harpers and other meddlesome organisations will most likely not take motice."

"I admit that it would have potential, you are indeed right in that regard, but I'm not much of a friend of cold winters. I think I'd would rather start a criminal empire somewhere were it is warmer. Tethyr perhaps or somewhere else on the swordcoast. Neverwinter perhaps." She had been grinning while saying this, taking a chuck from her ale. "Did you know that it is always warm in Neverwinter, even though it lies high in the north?"

"I thought as much from the name alone."

That was the moment Hendak pulled out the chair next to me and unceremoniously plopped himself down onto it. "My friend Milira", he said to Milira with a nod and a smile, then turning his face towards me. "My brother. I see you have returned in one piece. Was your journey met with success?"

"More or less", answered the half elven girl with a forced smile. "We did indeed deal with those occupying the keep, but we came to late to save the Lord de'Arnise."

"A pity and a shame. Bernard told me he had been one of the few good nobles in these lands", Hendak replied with what I thought was honest sadness.

"Noble nobles are in short supply everywhere, no matter where you look", I threw into the conversation, half serious and half joking. At least it produced another round of smiles.

"You are right again my friend", Milira said to that. "Though I fear there will never be a short supply of begging beggars or whoring whores or even thieving thieves. But luckily, there will always be guarding guards and warring warriors."

I stared at her for a full two seconds, before I broke down in laughter, she joined me a moment later. Hendak had Bernard bring more ale and beer and Minsc and his new companion joined us soon, the evening turning into a funny, joyfull event.

It was already long past sundown when finally Anomen did arrive, like he had promised. Only problem was, we were hammered. Totally. I have no idea what he was trying to tell us or what we answered in reply, all I remember are bits and pieces from the evening where I threw pieces of bread at some noble git, laughing and singing arm in arm with Minsc and stumbling up the stairs to my room, though not alone.

* * *

On the next morning my head felt like a group of dwarven miners were using it to build a new tunnel inside of it. When I opened my eyelids, very slowly I might add, the light coming from the window felt like it would burn out my eyes directly from my skull. My stomach was rebelling against me and trying to start an uprising of the organs inside my body. I tried to roll to the side and get out of my bed but my legs refused to do what I ordered and the rest of my limbs followed suit. Traitors.

However this was nothing compared to the shock I had when I heard a painful moan next to me. Clinging my eyes shut I slowly forced myself to turn around, before opening my eyes again, sending tiny prayers to any god that would listen. I was confronted with the sight of a human woman, one not so bad looking too. I admit it, I'm not a very deep person. The knowledge that in my drunken stubor I did go to bed with a good looking woman was putting me at ease, if only a bit.

I allowed myself a peak under the blankets and relieved I found myself, and her, dressed enough to make any kind of sexual intercourse strange at best and more or less unlikely. I also noticed that she filled out her linen shirt rather nicely in the chest area.

Using all my willpower I slipped from the bed, luckily we had not embraced each other or slipping out without waking her would have been impossible, and made my way downstairs to the kitchen, nursing my hangover as good as I could. There wasn't much activity at that time of the day and I managed to secure myself something, light, to eat and a lot of water to drink without stumbling around like the idiot I felt like at the time.

When I returned to my room and opened the door to step in I saw myself confronted with the sight of a rather sleepy, confused looking woman with her blonde hair in complete dissaray and all in all looking as miserable as I felt. I could not help myself, I chuckled slightly and then said to her as she looked at me: "Good morning. You look as shitty as I feel."

She pulled a face at me and shot me a glare. "Not the words a woman want's to hear in... ever."

Again I chuckled, despite my still hurting head, and stepped into the room.

"Have we...", she began. It seems there is a universal rule that whenever a woman wakes up next to a man and both don't remember the details about the night, one of them would start the question with these two words and stop then. Not that I would know, that was the first time something like that had happened to me.

"No. Unless you know a trick to do so with being fully dressed."

She did not grace me with an answer but fought her way out of the bed and began to search for her discarded equipment. For a second I watched her, then I began to help. Now that she was no longer hidden by the blankets I was able to see her fully. She was a big woman, for a human, and had a slightly broader build than what would be considered beautiful. Yet she was a fit woman and her face was, while not beautiful, pretty enough with a slightly to broad mouth and intense blue eyes. She moved with some sort of dignity through the room, trying to remain calm and proper while being in a completely unproper situation.

With a bit of surprise I saw her slipping on a chain shirt and putting on swordbelt, before she put on her, armored, boots. An adventurer perhaps? Could be. I had no idea and I did not ask her, I did not even know her name.

"Well... have a good day", she told me as she was about to leave.

I only replied: "You too."

And with that she was gone. Huh. Somehow I had thought the first time I would wake up without being able to remember how I got there and waking up with a good looking woman in my bed would be stranger. Perhaps I was just too hungover to freak out.

* * *

The second time I get down into the main room that day I found Milira and Nalia sitting on one of the tables, the first one looking up as she saw me approach, the second one busy with scribbling on a parchment and counting a large mass of money. Money was a strange thing in this world I had found out, consisting of a wild mix of different coins from all around the known world and even a lot of gems mixed in. Though I must admit that it was rather handy not being forced to hand over 2000 gold coins for real. Those are heavy you know?

"Good morning", I grumbled towards them as I pulled out a chair and sat down. Nalia only nodded into my direction while Milira did actually respond.

"And a good morning to you too. I'm surprised you're awake already, concidering the amount of ale, beer and cider you have consumed yesterday evening", she told me with a sweet smile. A perhaps too sweet smile. "I've known men who would be dead after drinking that much alcohol."

I was about to respond to that when I remembered the situation Nalia had just recently found herself in and swallowed my comment. It was most likely not very nice to make jokes about being dead next to a woman who had just lost her father. No, not at all. So I simply said: "That aside, what are your plans from here on? As far as I know you are in dire need of a great sum of money and thus on the look out for well paying jobs."

"Oh right, you have missed the conversation yesterday..." She snickered at something she remembered and I got the impression I was the one on whom the joke was. What have I done that she would snicker about? And why was Nalia trying to hide a smirk? Hmmm, a mystery for later and I shoved the thought to the side as Milira began to explain: "Yesterday while you and Minsc were singing battle songs together, both of you different ones I might add, I received a message from someone who would like to meet me regarding an opportunity to make money."

"Uhuh...", I groaned in reply and nodded once, only signaling to her that I was listening. "Any specifics?"

"Only the name and occupation of the possible employer: Renal Bloodscalp, a shadow thief guild master", she told me before taking a sip from her steaming hot tea.

While I only raised a single eyebrow and tried to recall the details of the thief stronghold quest from the original game, Nalia looked up from her parchment and draw in a surprised breath. With a slightly shocked voice she asked: "Milira! You... You are considering working for the Shadow Thieves?"

"If they pay... Yes. Yes, I do consider it." I could not helpt but to notice that the smile Milira gave in respond was a bit tight and the hand grasping her cup had clenched a bit. "Though I know of the reputation of them, I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I hope you will do the same."

"Um... of course." Our resident noble did not sound convincing.

"I will meet with him today, at sundown. I want Minsc and you two accompanying me." Another sip from her tea. "I don't think Anomen would be delighted to deal with such people in any way besides his weapon in hand and Aerie had expressed an interest in going to the circus this evening to meet with her friends there."

I did not ask after Jaheira. I was brave, not suicidal, thank you. Instead I asked: "So until then? Anything specific?"

"No", she answered. "We will meet up here an hour before sundown. Until then we are free to do what we like."

"Bummer, everything I like is either illegal, makes fat or is too expensive", I replied with a grin. A grin which she mirrored and made Nalia roll her eyes.

* * *

I don't like the govermental district of Atkathla. Too many large, imposing buildings telling people just how important the ones owning this building are, too much swank, too much wasted money on useless bauble. The nobles gave me pitying looks at best and disgusted ones most of the time, the private guards and city watch never left me out of their eyesight and all in all it was a very unwelcoming feeling I got from being there.

But I had to see it for myself before I could decide that I did not like it. I actually liked the temple district, I liked the promenade, I also liked certain parts of the docks and the great bridge, a district all in it's own, a small wonder of construction if you ask me as it was not only massive but there were actually houses and buildings build onto and INTO it. However the govermential disctrict...

Not so much to my taste.

Why again was I there? Ah, yes, accompanying Nalia to the govermental building of the Council of the Six, right.

"... and that is why I see it that way and I know that a lot of people think me naive, but I'd like to know what you think about that?", she finished her line of thought after we made our way across the main park again. For the I think seventh' time that day.

First she had dragged me to Council Hall of the Six in hopes of doing something about her being forced out of her house. After it became apparent that no one gave a damn about her there and she would have to wait months for an official hearing, she tried reasoning to friends of her family. Only that either they were not home or indisposed or were just not willing to see her out right. I slowly got the feeling that the Shadow Thieves were the most honorable "officials" in the whole damned city.

"Ummm..." I stared at her and unable to find an answer I decided to be honest with her. "What are we speaking about again?"

For a moment she stared back at me, then her shoulders dropped a bit and she turned around to keep on with her way. As I did not know what to say, I just followed her, hurrying after her to then walk next to her.

The park we were crossing through was actually quite nice, if you could ignore all the snoobish nobles that is. There were children playing in the grass, a few benches to sit on and a small fountain in the center. It was about forty times as big as the one depicted in the game, about as big as two football fields, right in the middle of the heart of the city. However I did not spend it much thought and preferred to keep my head busy with simple things. Because I still had a headache.

"Thank you for accompanying me on this fruitless endeavor", the chestnut haired girl suddenly said as we stepped of the grass back onto the cobbled street. Before us was some sort of tall official building of which I had no idea what it's purpose was, but the large open gate was adorned with two large lions next to it and the walls were covered with beautiful, colorful frescoes.

"Don't sweat it", I answered without taking my eyes from the art in front of us. I think it was really worth the time to stop and gaze upon it and I had a hard time tearing my eyes of it. "I admit, I had nothing better to do and I cherish the moments of peace and quit in my life."

"Azog, I must admit you surprise me. You are not what I would expect from a half-orc, especially one in your... um, profession."

I smirked at her. "And how many half-orcs in my profession do you know?"

She laughed at that. "You are right, you got me there. You are the first half-orc with whom I have spoken more than three words beyond the barest minimum. Don't get me wrong, it's not because I haven't tried, it's just... Your kind is rather seldom encountered in Athkatla and even then most of them tend to disregard me with contempt though I only try to help them."

I did not answer to that immediately but let it sink in for a moment while turning away from the large building, I think it was the amnian office of naval affairs or something, in front of us and began to make the way back to the Copper Coronet. After I have made four steps I said: "You see, I think especially those who share a certain background with me are suspicious of people trying to be kind to them. It's most likely nothing against you in person, it is just that a lot of people have been burned too often to trust the hand offered to them."

"Yes... I see your point. And I would still offer my hand to them, even if they don't want to take it", she responded, smiling sadly. She was walking next to me and I think we were quite the strange pair. Her robes were, even if a bit dirty, of highest quality and her pose and grace made it unmistakable that she was coming from a highborn background. I on the other hand towered over her like a mountain, dressed in plain and simple clothing, and people would have most likely thought me her bodyguard have we not walked next to each other.

"And that is the reason why I think you a good person, despite your, in my eyes, a bit naive choice of doing good." Before she could protest, and she was about to, I held up my hand to stop her. "I think it is a sign of charity and a good heart that you help those less fortunate than you. However, I think there are better ways of helping people than giving a freezing man a blanket and a hungry child an apple."

"So I should let the man freeze to death and let the child go hungry?", she asked me, her voice a bit colder than before. Seems I have poked into a hornet's nest with my statement.

"No, I think the man would be better served with a place where he could sleep and then work to earn something to eat and a warm fire. That way he would not only have something to eat and a place to sleep, he would also feel good about earning it", I answered her, trying to sound as neutral as I could. Problem with that was of course, that I did not feel neutral about it, I thought Nalia kind hearted but foolish in her endeavor to better the world, going at it from the wrong angle.

"If it were only so easy", she muttered with a tight smile, but then suddenly turned around to a commotion down the street. We had passed the largest buildings of the govermental district and had arrived on a central crossroad. To our left was the large prison, an imposing building about as pretty as a bull's behind, and it was there that a large group of people had began to gather in some kind of mob. "What is happening there? Come, let us check it out."

I had a hunch what to expect. Namely a female drow being to be burned at the stake by some fanatics.

"Gaze upon this evil monster! See the vile creature for what it is!"

In front of the crowd, over which I was easily able to look thanks to my size and the fact that people made room for me, stood a priest of some goddess I could not name. Beshaba I think, Mistress of... Pain? I can't really remember.

"This monster has tried to infiltrate our city to corrupt our children and eat our souls! What shall we do with her?!"

"Burn her!"

"Burn her!"

The crowd, it seems, had already decided what they want, not really interested in the words of the Priest. It was only luck that the priest, or perhaps only zealot, was ranting the same religious words over and over again and his assistant was yelling sob-stories about killed children and stolen souls, instead of just lighting the pyre.

"Azog, we have to help that poor thing", Nalia whispered to me and already fumbled through her spell components pouch. Not that I really noticed, because I was more or less staring. Most of the scene was familiar, kind off a like I had expected it to be, but there was one crucial difference: There was no female drow tied to the stake, but a red skinned, horned tiefling. At least I thought it was a tiefling.

"Please, I've done nothing! Let me go, please! Please, please, I'm innocent, I swear!", the poor female creature sobbed, her eyes filled with tears and her voice wavering. She was terryfied and to be honest, it nearly broke my heart seeing it. She could not be older than fifteen or fourteen perhaps, with big eyes and still childish features on her face, her body still not fully developed. And she was totally naked, only adding to her torture.

"Spit your lies, corrupt monster! The holy flames will burn your unholy body and destroy your vile aura, cleaning the city from your stench!", the zealot screamed with a mad gleam in his eyes, rising the torch high in the air.

"Quick Azog, before it's to late!", Nalia urged me and all but pushed me forward, even though she did not really have the strength to do so. This broke me out of my daze and I stepped forward, pushed several so called nobles to the side and then stood in front of the zealot, interrupting him in his raving about flames and pain and unholy creatures and stuff.

"You do know, that there are a lot of creatures from the lower planes who are immune to fire, don't you?", I asked him with a raised eyebrow. I was unsure of what to do with him. I could kill him, he wasn't a really dangerous man in my eyes, and he was about to kill a young woman because of her ancestry, making her in my eyes as evil as any raiding orc. But on the other hand he was a human. And we were standing in the middle of the govermential district of Athkatla, there were guards everywhere.

He stared up to me, his eyes wide with religious madness and his mouth trembling. "The flames of Beshaba will see to her demise! This horrible monster must die for the insult she is to the gods! She came to spy upon us and steal our children, bringing death and corruption with her!"

"Please... let me go! I'm innocent, I swear! I did nothing! PLEASE!" The girl screamed and cried and sobbed only louder and more. The people were yelling for her to burn and it did not seem like I could talk the idiot out of doing it.

I sighed. I was sure that if I make her lose, the idiots would attack me. So I had to be smart about it. I must admit, I had not thought that the mans neck would snap so easily and that it would sound so sickenly. It was sickenly easy to kill him. My muscles moved on trained instinct, my hands shooting forward and grabbing the head of the man, jerking it to the sound violently. He was dead instantly.

Then there was panic, people began to scream and run and I did not see the assistant of the man coming at me with raised sword, I was busy staring at the dead zealot to my feet. I could not shake the feeling that despite killing a human, I had done the world a favor by cleaning it from an evil creature. An unpleasant thought.

"Azog, look out!", Nalia screamed just in time for me to whirl around and dodge the blow with the sword. The man was bigger than the one I had just killed, a bit bulkier too, and dressed in chainmail, in one hand holding a torch, in the other a shortsword. With which he was trying to kill me.

He stabbed at me with a wild scream on the lips and flashed his teeth, but for all his wildness, he had no skill. I made a small step to the side and towards him, grabbed his wrist and jerked hard. He stumbled and then my forehead found his nose, producing a sickening crunch and a slight headache for me. I'm sure he felt worse.

I released him out of instinct, he made a step back and then his eyes got huge, a silent scream of shock on his lips. Behind him stood Nalia, her dagger buried in his back. He fell to the ground, the weapon still in his back, bleeding out and most likely dead in a few minutes. If I thought I had been shocked of killing a human, Nalia was worse.

She just stood there and stared at him, her whole body shivering. Slowly I stepped up to her and though I would have preferred to take her in my arms in show her that the world was not lost, even if she felt that way now, I knew that we had to hurry. So I slapped her across the face.

"OUCH! What... Are you mad?!"

"I'm sorry my friend, but we must hurry, I have no desire to explain the situation to the guards." While I said that I already was on the pyre and cut the ropes holding the girl up. I had not released how small the girl was, she could not be bigger than perhaps one fifty, until I stood next to her and pulled her roughly from the pyre. When I touched her she jerked back for a moment, but she complied.

Nalia pulled off her cloak and threw it around the girl's shoulders, she seemed to be swallowed hole by the fine wool garment, then pulling her along. "Don't worry girl... you're safe now... you're safe."

I admit, she was better at calming a terryfied woman than I was and I let her do the talking while we hurried away from the scene, hoping that we would not be bothered by the guards. I think they were just happy for the whole spectacle to be over, they ignored us as we practically jogged past them.

* * *

By the time we arrived at the Copper Coronet the red skinned girl had stopped to sob and to cry, she was only whimpering softly now and then. As she had no boots on her feet must have hurt like hell and the whole experience had visibly shaken her.

"Bring her to my room, will you? I'll organize something for her to wear", Nalia said to me as if I was a servant, releasing the girl in the process. When she pulled back her arm from the poor girls shoulders she jerked again, though this time a bit less violent.

"Don't you think it would be better the other way around?"

"Do you want to ask for women's smallclothes?"

"I'll bring her to your room, right away, as you command my lady." Her arguments were quite good, I must admit. I managed to smuggle the girl throw the thickening crowd in the tavern without any problems, courtesy of Hendak and friends, and was thankful for the cowl attached to the cloak, hiding the girls two small horns and her skin from prying eyes.

"Who is she?", asked Hendak as I pushed her into Nalia's room.

"Someone who needs help."

He did not answer but just raised an eyebrow in question. Then he nodded and left us alone, closing the door behind him, but not before mumbling something about having Bernard bringing her some hot soup and something to drink.

As the door closed I turned to the girl, by now sitting on the bed, making herself as small as possible. The cloak was too big for her, which was good as it hid her complete appearance and nude body fro view. I felt a bit dirty being alone with her, the small, vulnerable looking girl, but I could also not leave her simply alone. So I grabbed a piece of cloth, some water from a small pitcher and began to clean her face.

She whimpered a bit when I touched her face but she did nothing to stop me. In closer inspection I noticed how miserable she looked, her eyes downcast and confused, her expression frightened, her completey body shaking, her hair matted and dirty. I thought that it would perhaps good for her to visit a bathhouse the next day, not just because she would get clean, she could also feel better... a beauty day if you wish to call it so. I made a mental note to ask Nalia for that, perhaps the girls could do something together, would perhaps help with group morals.

"Don't worry girl...", I said in the best shoothing voice I managed. I think it came out as a deep growl, most likely reminding her more of a dragon than of a kind person. "... you're safe now. You're safe."

She sniffed, nodding slightly. Then she answered with a hoarse, croaky voice: "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"This... this wasn't supposed to happen...", she whispered, I think more to herself than to me. I let her continue, perhaps it would help her through this traumatic experience. "It was... just a story... Just a story, nothing more. It wasn't supposed to happen. I thought it was only a joke or prank or so."

Well, that sounded really strange, but hey, who am I to judge? I stood up and began to wash out the small piece of cloth I had used to clean her face. At least a bit. I only listened with half an ear what she was saying, my thoughts were elsewhere. If it was not Viconia about to get burned on the pyre, where was she then? Where would we meet her? Would we meet her at all? Perhaps she had died in the former game and would not be around at this time at all. Would be a real bummer.

By the time Nalia came back carrying a bundle of clothes, a simple linen dress and a pair of smallclothes, the girl had calmed down a bit, no longer shivering and mumbling and I let her alone with my female companion, bringing her something to eat and to drink.

The two young women, well one young woman and one girl, were peacefully talking with one another and stopping abruptly when I arrived. When they saw it was only me both releaxed visibly. "We should get going in about an hour or so", I informed Nalia. "Go get something to eat and drink before we go, I think meeting with the guild master could take a while."

She nodded and turned to the yet nameless girl. "I'll be right back, okay? Do you want me to come back or..."

"No, it's allright", she answered with a weak smile. She was still wearing the big cloak, yet was also wearing the dress underneath by now. "Go, I'll be fine."

"As you say." The young noble woman hesitantly grabbed the girls shoulder and squeezed it, giving her an encouraging smile, before standing up and leaving the slightly run down room, leaving me alone with the girl.

For a few moments I stared at her, me not really feeling comfortable in my position. I wasn't really good with women, never were, and I think it is a stereotypical behaviour of men to panic when a woman is crying. Though she was no longer crying, she was still clearly not well. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, before I began to ask: "You want me to leave or..."

"No no... it's okay... it's alright, really." She bit her lower lip. "Soooo... You're Azog, right?"

"Uh, yes, that's me. Azog I mean. Yes." Smooth, really smooth. Like I said, I was still not really comfortable being in the room alone with her. "And you?"

"Um... um..." She began to think, not meeting my eyes, chewing on her lips, before answering: "Um... uhhh... Arwen?"

I raised both eyebrows. Okay, so there was a tiefling girl named Arwen now. What a... coincedence. "Are you answering me or asking me if that is your name?"

"Answering. Totally answering. Like, um, really. Yeah."

"Uhuh." Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure. I let myself plop down onto the single chair in the room. It was neither a comfortable chair nor a very well preserved chair, creaking dangerously under by bulk, but for now it held. "So, how did you end up on that pyre anyway? If you're comfortably with me asking."

Again she bit her lips. "Um... that's a really, um, strange... Story. You wouldn't believe me, like, anyway."

"Try me. I have seen some very strange things, including a small gnome in a colorful dress riding a pink elephant." That was a lie, but it served it's purpose, she giggled a bit at the image.

"Okay", she then said. "I'm from, um, not around here. I mean, not only not Athkatla but, like, this world. I was just minding my own business, like, reading a fanfic-um, a book, when there was this bang and a storm and I got hit by lightning and PUFF, there I was, cute little me, lying naked in some gutter. When I woke up these jerks found me and... well, you know the rest."

I stared at her dumbfounded, my mouth hanging open. Finally, after several minutes of stunned silence in which she looked at anything but me, I said: "You're a SI?!"

* * *

_Second OC. Another SI. This is about to get strange._

_I have not yet decided what major quest they will tackle next. Perhaps two at once, splitting the group. Or something completely new. Not sure yet. If you have a suggestion, write me a review or PM._

_The yet nameless woman in Azogs bed will return later in this story, though most likely not in a major role._


	8. Chapter 7: Druids, Knights and Undead

_Well, and on we go. The story will mostly follow the main plot of the game, but there will be tiny differences, especially concerning the subquests and the companion quests. Also I think about pairing Azog and Viconia with one another. Just because they would be awesome together. Totally in love and totally denying it, calling each other names and acting all tough to one another._

_**Blue-Inked-Frost:**__ Thank you very much for the reply. And also thanks a lot for the idea for the next quest I'll send my small group of heroes onto._

* * *

**Chapter 7: Druids, Knights and Undead**

Meeting Renal Bloodscalp was a great way to get my mind of things. At least in theory. In practice however it didn't work at all. All I did was standing menacingly behind Milira, arms crossed in front of me, face set in a relaxed scowl. Sadly that was not very hard and neither was it very demanding on the mind. In other words, I had a lot of time to think about some other issues I had at the moment. Like the fact that there was a second SI in this world now. A fellow SI I had left behind in a hurry after the relevation, all but running from the room and hiding in the back rooms of the tavern. I know, not very brave.

I can stand up to slavers and orcs and perhaps even demons, at least I think so, but when faced with the prospect of meeting someone else who doesn't belong here, someone who most likely will need my help, I falter like a wall build by halflings when a dragon waltzes through. That would mean something like... I don't know... facing an unknown. Facing new prospects in life. In this life. Because suddenly I was reminded that this was not my first life. That I had been someone else before.

Not that I had forgotten, not really. It had just... began to be pushed into the back of my mind. Because, let's face it, who would want to put up with a world where you have to slave away in an endless struggle for some dignity, live your life without any exciting adventures, go to school, go to work, be pushed by society to adapt, sacrafive your dreams... When you could go out and slay monsters and evil witchers?

"So, what do you think?"

I was pulled from my thoughts when Milira turned to us and was saved from a humiliating scene in which I could not answer because I had no idea what I was to think about, when Nalia voiced her thoughts immediately.

"It is... worthy of looking into it. But perhaps we should first try to get some information about this Mae'Var fellow, before we decide if we get ourselves involved?" Ah, so that's what the conversation is about. Do we accept the offer to work for Renal Bloodscalp or not. Because at least that part of the story had stayed the same compared to the original content.

We had left the main Shadow-Thieves stronghold in the docks and were on our way out of the district when Milira had asked us on our opinions. So there we were, strolling through a deserted street, more or less whispering among us because we could never be too sure if there wasn't someone listening in.

"Working with thieves and robbers and honorless scum!" Well, of course with the exception of Minsc, who does not seem to posess the ability to lower his voice below what anyone normal would consider rather loud. "But Boo says Milira is a smart leader, so Minsc will follow."

I kept my silence, at least until Milira spoke directly to me. "Azog?", she asked from her position directly next to me, where she had appeared without me noticing. She was a very good thief. Shadowdancer I mean. Even without magic. "How do you think should we proceed from here one? Shall we accept the offer of working for Renal Bloodscalp and infiltrate the guild of this Mae'Var?"

I scratched my chin, noticed that I should shave again, and then grumbled: "We don't know enough. I'd say we should try to find out more about this man. If it's not too risky, we should accept."

"Why?"

I raised an eyebrow. It seems she was seriously interested in her comrades opinions, not just asking for them for appearance sake. A small smile found it's way onto my face and lips. "Well, you need money. They pay money. Case closed."

"Simple as that?"

"Simple as that."

"You have no problems working with and for men and women making their money by thievery, blackmail, murder and smuggling?", Nalia asked me, giving me a questioning look. Not a judging one, not really, just like she actually wanted to know what she had asked, not like she had already formed a bad opinion about me.

"Depends." I shrugged and was saved from further going into details by someone I saw moving in the shadows. I think Milira had noticed too, cause her hand was already on the pommel of her short sword when the person stepped onto the street in front of us.

"Fair travels fellow's", the man said, giving as a broad, ugly grin. Ugly not only because of the expression, but also because of the fact that some of his teeth were missing and the others were rotting. Adding that to the rest of his appearance, rough leather and dark clothes, and I had a relatively good idea what he was and what he wanted from us. "'m sorry to say, but street's closed. However, if ye would pay us, we would consida op'nin it again. Aye?"

Three more men appeared further down the street, two of them with loaded crossbow's in their hands, and I heard some shuffling behind us. I was seriously considering attacking without giving any of my comrades giving the chance for a smart reply, when Milira already reacted. Though not like I would have thought she would.

"I'm very sorry, but in the haste I have forgotten my coin purse. It think I lost it on my nightstand when I left the Inn to meet with Renal Bloodscalp." It was funny how threatening a small, smiling woman could be without even drawing a weapon and standing in a relaxed posture. She was as subtle as Minsc was direct, who, as a single gaze to him assured me, was already only waiting to attack the would-be-muggers.

Apparently, subtility wasn't a strength of the ugly guy either. "Well, too bad toot's, cause then we will take our toll in 'nother way. Ye look fine 'nuff for a tumble."

"SWORDS FOR WORDS!"

And with that, battle was joined. They had it coming.

* * *

It was long hours after sunset when we returned to the Copper Coronet, after our short fight against the wannabe robbers in higher spirits than before, the dark cloud over our heads lifted by a victory. If even only against some ruffians who deserved, as Minsc had so apptly put it, a mighty kick in the butt.

As always there was a ruff audience in the tavern interior, calls for more beer and wenches could be heard even from outside, loud singing accompanied by shouting and laughing. When we entered our faces were hit by the heat of too many bodies on a too small room, the smell of sweat and bear and smoke and greasy food tingling in our noses.

"I'll retire for the night. It was a long day", Nalia told more to Milira than to Minsc and me and then she was already gone, hurrying away through the thick crowd with the ease of someone who knew how to slip past people. Not as gracefull as Milira, but certainly more than I could ever hope to be.

Minsc too left us alone, though he said something about Boo being tired and him wishing to get up early tomorrow, so that he might get some training done before the breakfast. That sounded actually good and I would have joined him, had not Milira pulled on my arm. "Hey, look at that."

She pointed at something further into the main room and after a few seconds of trying to find what she was pointing at exactly, I saw three women sitting at a table, laughing and talking and giggling and being a bit tipsy. In essence nothing special, but these were Aerie, Jaheira and the red skinned girl Nalia and I had saved earlier from a fiery death.

I refuse to call her Arwen, I will just not do it.

"Willing to face being the only man on a table?", the blonde Milira asked with a smile.

"Willing to face sitting on the same table as a possibly still grumpy druidess?", I replied without missing a beat. A second after I could have kicked myself in the rear. Sure, just add oil to the fire, smooth move.

Her smile turned a bit sour, but she nodded. "I'll take that risk. But you'll have to bring me an a cidre, will you?"

"As you command, my lady, it will be my pleasure to serve you oh my lovely maiden of beauty."

She playfully punched me against the arm, I did not even feel it, and was then already gone from my side. If Nalia had moved with ease through the thick crowd, Milira did so even more. It was like comparing a rather skilled dancer with an elven blade singer, a kitten to a panther. Seing her in action was... something else. If only at weaseling her way through a crowd of tavern patrons.

I shook the thoughts away and hurried to get her a cidre and myself a beer. Piss poor beer with a bad taste lingering in the mouth even an hour after drinking, but beer none the less.

Other than Nalia and Milira I did not have to search a way through the tavern, the way was made for me. The people stepped out of the way and if they looked into my direction when I passed them I gave them a polite nod or mouthed a thanks. "There you go, oh glorious leader", I said as I put the half warm cidre in front of Milira, then pulling up a chair for myself and sitting down. "Well, have I missed something good?"

""Oh glorious leader"?", asked Jaheira with a both eyebrows raised, though her face more turned towards Milira than towards me.

"Oh Jaheira, he's just teasing me, nothing serious." She took a sip from her cidre, then turning towards me. "You are just teasing me, aren't you? This is not some sort of orcish courting ritual where you have decided that I'd be your chosen bride, is it?"

"Damn me, you have seen through my foolproof masterplan. Now I will never make my dream of creating a species of super half-humans quarter-elves quarter-orcs come true." We shared a chuckle, though the three girls who had been there longer than us were outright laughing. How much had they drank before we arrived? Judging by how hard Aerie was laughing, a lot. Or she could just not hold her liqueur. Or both. Yes, most likely both.

It was a while later, about two beer and three well told stories later, that finally Jaheira breached a very sensible subject. It would have been perhaps better when she had done so while being sober, but hey, whatever works I guess.

"Milli..." She more or less whispered the nickname for the girl, who actually heard her. As I sat on the other side on the table and it was rather loud in the rowdy tavern I missed a few parts of the following conversation, but most of it I was able to make out. Considering the fact that I also had to keep a totally drunk Aerie in check, it was quite the feat. The other girl, I will NOT call her that name, had fallen asleep on the table, thus an easy customer.

"Milli... I luuvv ye... like 'e unwannat sista A nevva younga... otha way 'round ..." That was in essence the most important part of the conversation, followed by more proclamations of sisterly-parenty-love, thanks and appologies and a lot of tears. I fled when they hugged each other and began to cry and laugh at the same time.

Drunk women are scary.

* * *

Other than Aerie, Jaheira was able to hold her liqueur. And she was also not hungover. She was up before I was. When I stumbled into the arena still half asleep she sat in the middle of the sandy room, surrounded by a group of dogs and big cats and wolves. And something that could just be a massive dire-bear, a large animal about the size of an adult rhino. Or even bigger.

I stared at her, as she cuddled with lions and tigers and whispered shoothing words into the ears of wolves and hummed a soft melody for the big bear, who in response growled satiesfied and let her pet him. It was kinda surreal.

Of course all these animals had not appeared there by magic, they had been left behind in the cages when Milira and her friends had freed us slaves and our orpressors had been killed. There was a long line of cages in which the beastmaster had held different animals and magical creatures for the entertainment. Jaheira had, as a druid, of course been really unhappy about it and began to look for a way to release them back into the wild. For the moment however the poor creatures had to endure and it was obvious how happy they were to receive some attention from the druidess.

"They will not hurt you if you come closer my friend", she informed me without turning around after I stood there for quite I while. Though I was not too sure of that, inwardly I shrugged and trotted over to her.

"So... Don't you have a headache or something?", I asked her when I stood about two meters away from her, a living ground of fur between us. The normaly rather mangy beasts were downright happy and fluffy at that time. The big bear could have killed me with a single swipe of his massive paws and yet there he sat, content, satisfied and comfy. I'm sure Jaheira could have sat on him and he would have endured it. "I mean... I still feel a bit groggy and I had only three beer."

"Mother nature protects her servants from such nuisances and gifts them with powers beyond the imagination of most civilised people", she answered, still not looking at me but at that moment busy with rubbing the belly of a rather big, old wolf.

"You can change into the shape of animals and ask mother nature for small wonders, right?"

"That is correct, even if that is only a fraction of the things I am capable of and a rather lacking description of my skills on top of that." She switched the belly rub towards another wolf, who began to pant happily. "I have been gifted with a myriad of different powers and skills, among them, as you have just said, the ability to force mother natures will through the use of spells as well as the ability to shape change into that of different animals. I can also communicate with the creatures mother nature, of course not in a way of conversation, but in a magical way of understanding one another."

I did know of the powers of druids, I knew most of what they were capapble of by heart. Yet seeing the ease with which Jaheira took care of her companions and reading about it, that's something completely different. Awe inspiring, I tell you. Finally I managed to shove that thought to the side and began with my daily morning workout. That means, I did it for the firt time.

It must have looked quite silly for anyone looking in. A half-elven woman with dreadlocks cuddling with a horde of animals, a half naked half-orc going through katas, swinging my weapon at invisible enemies and dodging blows that weren't there. I was deep into my routine, it was funny to realize how fast something like this can happen especially when muscle memory is involved, when Jaheira suddenly said: "Lith'Gael has voiced an interest to join us in our endeavor's."

I missed the next step and stopped suddenly. "Who?"

"Lith'Gael. The Fey'ri girl you and Nalia have saved yesterday." She answered as if I was stupid and somehow I did feel that way. Anyway, the name was better than Arwen at every day. Even if a bit... mary-suish. "I would find such a way of action highly dissatisfsactional. Despite her demonic heritage she seems to posess a keen heart, but her kin are masters of deception."

"So you don't trust her."

"It's more than that." She snorted slightly. "Treachery is the least of my worries. I think she will be a danger to herself and us if she would accompany us. She has told me that she has no experience with weaponry of any kind, neither with magic, making her practically defenseless. The desire to do good is not enough alone, especially when she would endanger her comrades in the process."

Can't argue with that logic. Really, I can't. However, I had good reasons to wish her to accompany us. Her not screwing around with the world too much. Being able to have an eye on her at all times. Having someone to talk to about the world I originally came from, even though we arrived through different means in this one. Those were of course no reasons I could tell Jaheira. She would either think me crazy or posessed or something, no good options. None of them.

"I understand", I mumbled and scratched my chin. While I noticed that I should shave before getting breakfast, I had an idea. "However, though I do share your concerns, I feel responsible for the girl. It is only a question of time before she would get into trouble yet again and I'd prefer it to be there to get her out of it. Letting her alone while we go on adventurers would either strengthen her will to join us and seduce her to follow us anyway, or getting into deathly peril alone. None of them good options."

Jaheira thought about that for a moment, then she sighed. "I admit you have good arguments. However, I do not trust her and having her in our backs all the time would not allow me to sleep peacefully."

"Then it's even more important that we take her along, so we can keep an eye on her."

"A fair point. Still, my opinion stands."

"So does mine."

"Well, then it is a good thing that it is Milira who leads us and not one of us."

* * *

I washed myself and shaved, of course leaving my beautiful sideburns where they were, before joining several of my companions at the breakfast table. Apparently neither Aerie nor Lith'Gael had any sort of special resistance against a hangover, so at least they were miserable. We spoke little aside from some polite words and I had long finished my eggs and tomatos and bread, when Milira coughed to get our attention.

"Friends, comrades...", she began as we all looked at her, though Aerie was most likely seeing three of her at that moment. "I have decided on a course of action for the immediate future. Nalia, I want you to find out a few facts about our possible target concerning the contract with Renal Bloodscalp, this Mae'Var fellow. What sort of man he is, what sort of guild he runs, stuff like this. I would not be comfortable taking down an actually decent man."

"He is a thief!", Minsc protested loudly, making Aerie and Lith'Gael wince. I smirked as I saw them squirm, it was quite funny to watch them.

"So am I", replied Milira and now it was the big, bald ranger squirming.

"Boo says that Milira is a stout warrior of goodness and justice despite being a thief." A short pause, then he added: "And Minsc agrees."

"Thank you, that means much to me", our leader answered with a beaming smile. "However, I still want to know more before accepting. Do you feel comfortable doing that Nalia?"

"Of course, I will do what I can", she said with a polite nod and a reassuring smile. I could somehow not imagine her in a shadowy corner with an equally shadowy fellow, whispering about secrets, so I had my doubts about her being effective in such an endeavor. Well, but I wasn't the leader, I was just the dumb swordswinger.

"Good." The blonde thief took a sip from her tea before saying: "The rest of us, we will meet with Anomen at the headquarter of the order of the radiant heart. Perhaps the paladins will have some work for us we could do."

"W-Would they... um... Would they do that?", asked Aerie suddenly from beside me, her voice barely above a hoarse whisper. She did not only look like shit, she sounded like shit too. "Would... Would kn-knights not just... um... solve the... p-problem themselves?"

"Though you are correct if you mean that paladin orders prefer to tackle any sort of quest themselves girl, it is not unheard of that they hire adventuring groups to perform tasks for which they lack the... expertise", Jaheira answered her before Milira could beat her to it.

"Or because the task is something usually beneath the notice of the members of the order", Milira added hastly. "Whatever the reason, perhaps they will have something worthwile for us to do."

I was okay with that. Most likely they would either send us off to deal with the traitors in their midsts, the fallen paladins, or something completely different. Whatever it would be, I was rather sure that none of us would have anything against it. Or they would have nothing for us and then that would be okay too. However, one question remained... "I'm all for that. And if we don't get to do anything from them, well, then at least we've seen the temple district. So, what about... um..."

I scratched my, now clean shaven, chin and turned my gaze to Lith. "... you? What are you gonna do?"

"I'll be coming with you of course", she answered immediately, giving us a broad grin. Then the grin wavered slightly and she shrugged. "I mean... I don't know anyone else in this world besides you. I don't know where else I could go... and you could surely use someone of my expertise."

"Which is what exactly?", Jaheira asked with crossed arms and a sharp gaze.

"Um... I can make a mean stew?"

If anyone was impressed by that statement, no one showed it. I gave Milira a questioning look, which she returned, and then I turned my eyes back towards the girl sitting at the table and looking at us with hopefull eyes.

"Well Lith...", Milira began after a few minutes of stunned silence. "If you wish to come with us, you should be aware that I am on a quest to save a friend of mine from the Cowled Wizards, a powerful organization of magic users. It will be a dangerous endaver."

"Apparently for someone like me it is dangerous to, like, cross the street in this city. So, wouldn't change much for me, would it?"

"No, I think it would not, you're right about that", the blonde thief said with a sad smile. "If you wish to accompany us on our journey, I will not stop you. But you must remember that I am the leader of this group, yes?"

"Sure, you're the boss, bosslady."

Milira seemed to be a bit confused about that answer, as it was a rather strange way to speak for her, but she accepted it with a smile. "However, as you at the moment do not have garments and equipments fitting for such an endeavor, Nalia will take you to the promenade. And then you two will do your tasks of getting your hands on information concerning Mae'Var, yes?"

* * *

"Are we running a shelter for the unfortunate and downridden?", asked Jaheira as soon as we were out of the Copper Coronet, her and Milira and Aerie, Minsc and me. "Will you take in anyone who is down on her luck and needs help? Because while I don't question your heart, I question your ability to look at the bigger picture."

"What have you preferred?", snapped Milira back and next to me Aerie nearly jumps out of her skin, all but bumping into Minsc who immediately lays a big, steady hand onto her shoulder. I gave the tall man a thankful smile, as did the small elf.

"Should I send her away, most likely into her untimely death? The poor girl is barely more than a child, a child who knows even less of the world than I did after Gorion..." The blonde half-elf shut her mouth at that moment and turned around, preferring to make her way through the thickening crowd in the slums instead of keeping up the discussion.

Jaheira however did not seem content and hurried after her. We others had trouble keeping up with the two women, but I was able to carve a way through the people and was thus able to listen in to the conversation of the two.

"Milira... Milira, listen to me", the druid said frantically and nearly grabbed the other womans arm, but refrained from doing so in the last moment. Interesting. "You can't just take in every stray. I know you want to help them, I really do... But you just can't safe everyone."

"Jaheira, my friend, this conversation is not for this moment. We will talk more on it when we have time."

It's funny. Milira had the ability to remain polite and even nice and make a sentence sound final and even harsh at the same time. The conversation was over from there on and immediately Minsc began to babble about how smart Boo was and about how snowy Rashemen was. Sometimes I think that man is the smartest of us all.

* * *

The temple district of Athkatla was a sight to behold. No less than seven major temples and a lot of smaller ones trying to outshine one another with glory and splendour. The magneficient, bulky temple of Helm stood next to the large, open cathedral of Lathander, the overly decorated, beautiful temple of Sune was positioned only a spearthrow away from the golden glittering halls of Waukeen. Then there was of course the imposing temple of Talos, as well as the slightly smaller ones of Chauntea and Sêlune. And a lot of smaller buildings in between. And shrines. Lot's and lot's of them, wherever you were looking.

A simple description can just not explain the splendour and beauty of this place, the feeling of awe flowing through one when first stepping foot onto these wonderful streets. I knew from a well informed scource that there was a special thieves guild working in this district, a small one directly serving under a priest of Mask, the god of thieves and trickery.

I could hardly keep my eyes to the road as we made our way through the streets and across the many bridges. Artificial waterways were surounding the temple grounds and were connected to the large river flowing through the city. There weren't many people on the streets, compared to the promenade and the slums at least, and those who were there seemed to be peacefull and at ease. The athmosphere of the place was, in a few words, friendly and calm.

The headquarter of the order of the radiant heart was a tall, broad and imposing building, build equally to impress as well as to be well defended. It stood on the outskirts of the district, half in the artificial lake and half on dry land. It was, in essence, a large fortress including a courtyard, barracks, large chapels, armory and so on, everything in peak condition. Only stables were missing.

"Boo says, this is a very large warriors lodge, worthy of honorable men and women!", Minsc proclaimed at seeing it. "Though Minsc thinks, that the head of a dragon is missing over the gate."

I had to admit, a dragons head would be very imposing and not even out of place. I mean, they were knights, right? And what is more knightly and glorious than slaying a fucking dragon? Few things, I tell you.

"There you are my friends", Anomen greeted us in front of the gate, looking mighty smug. His plate armor was freshly polished and shining in the sunlight, nearly blinding me. "This is the headquarter of the most honorable knightly order of the radiant heart! Treat lightly in here, because these are holy halls."

Jaheira rolled with her eyes, as did I. But I was a bit more discreet about it.

The inside of the halls were adorned with marble floors and mosaics, statues of knights and wall tapestries showing different scenes of knightly deeds. And this was only the entrance hall. We did not get much further, because Anomen lead us immediately to a man conversing with a few young squires, I think they were just holding small talk. As soon as he saw us approach, Minsc and I had very heavy steps and we were totally out of place in there, he excused himself from them and turned towards us.

"Squire Anomen", he greeted the man leading us in with a friendly nod and an even friendlier smile. "These are the men and women of whom you have spoken so highly?"

"Aye, this they are Ser Ryan Trawl."

Ser Ryan Trawl was an accomplished knight with salt and pepper hair and a friendly, if scarred, face. He too was wearing his full armor, though his one wasn't freshly polished and looked a bit more dull. It suited him just fine I thought to myself. He gave us a once over and seemed content with what he saw, he even gave Aerie a reassuring smile as he noticed her being rather nervous. "I wish you good business my friends. I am Ser Ryan Trawl, master of arms of the order of the radiant heart. I have heard tales about your deeds on the Sword Coast."

"Minsc is happy to meet a fellow kicker of butt of evil!" And immediately the older knight found himself face to face with a grinning berserker warrior. And a hamster being pointed at him. I think Anomen nearly had a heart attack, the young man was practically panicing I think. It was rather funny to watch. "Boo likes you."

"Splendid", Ser Trawl replied smiling. I wasn't sure if he was genuine or if he was just diplomatic. "I are happy to make your accquintance, Minsc and Boo. Your courage and mighty swordarm will surely find it's way to the bard's songs, as will the wisdom of Boo."

"Oooooh, this man is a good man."

"Ahem." Milira coughed once.

"Minsc is sorry. We are overjoyed to meet so many warriors of goodness and honor in one place!", the big warrior explained a bit sheepish while taking a step back, allowing our small leader to take over the conversation. I noticed that several other knights in hall had seen the display and were smiling to themselves.

"Ser Ryan Trawl, as my friend had just said, we are happy to make your aqcuintance", Milira said and bowd slightly, a gesture that was returned by the man in question. "I don't know what our comrade Anomen had told you already, but we came here in the hope to help your knightly order in any way we can."

"As you are surely don't mean by that to clean the kitchens, although that is a rather pressing concern if you ask me, I think there actually is something you can help us with", the knights replied kindly.

Ah yes, the fallen paladin quest. Bummer we didn't have a paladin with us to join the order, or this would be the entrance quest. And later killing Firkraag. Like I said, knights and dragons, they just go naturally with each other. Destiny you could call it.

"It is a sad state of affairs, but I must confess, that the old and large graveyard of Athkatla is overflowing with the dead. Under the crypts are even older crypts and long forgotten catacombs, even a whole series of tunnels", he began to explain, his face now serious and marred with concern. "Over the years more and more of the undead have been amassed there, be it because they were revived by necromancers dabbling in the dark arts, or because of other reasons. The order itself is not able to deal with them at the moment, a lot of our forces are occupied in the south. I would ask you to explore these cryptas and catacombs, rooting out the undead and giving them their final rest."

Hmmmm, now that is not like I remembered it to be. Again.

* * *

Three thousand pieces of gold. Everything we find down there. A hand full of magical equipment from the order.

For all the goodness of her heart, Milira had no qualms about pracically milking the order for rewards. She had negotiated for nearly twenty minutes about the monetary compensation and in the end the treasuremaster was even smiling, most likely because he had gotten the impression that he had made a good deal. Let me assure you: He did not.

"As easy as taking treats from a baby", Milira had said with a smile after she left the chambers of the treasuremaster of the order, at which Jaheira asked her how she would know such a thing. Had she ever taken treats from a baby?

She had not gotten a reply.

The work itself... Well...

"HELM GUIDES MY PATH! BEGONE, FOUL CREATURES!"

We had immediately made our way to the graveyard district, but not without restocking on supplies we would need first, and descendet down into the tunnels beneath the cryptas. It was a large, well maintained area, though nearly deserted. The graveyard was very, very old, and those who were buried there had died a long time ago. No one came here any longer to mourn as no one was left alive of those who could remember the dead buried there.

"IN THE NAME OF HELM, YOU SHALL FALL!"

It was a small city in itself, filled with splendour and art whereever you would look. I nearly felt bad for opening crypta door after crypta door, sometimes breaking them open with force. We had to look for a while, about seven cryptas and three zombies, before we found an entrance to the tunnels below. One marred with traps, but Milira was nothing if not a master in her profession.

"BEGONE, I ORDER YOU, BEGONE! UNHOLY MONSTERS OF FOUL MAGIC, BEGONE!"

Now the catacombs had a very eery look, something really creepy and at the same time unique. Take the catacombs of paris, cross them with aegyptian tombs and add a lot of spiders, then you can imagine how the tunnels we were descending into looked like. And with spiders I mean actually rather normal spiders, no big, eight legged monsters. So far.

"FEEL THE WRATH OF THE RIGHTOUS!"

Which brings me to following situation: Minsc all but jumping into battle against a horde of skeletons and zombies. Aerie trying her hardest to cast a spell which would not endanger her friends. Milira being practically useless in this particular battle. Jaheira and me trying to hold back the horde of the undead and protecting the two smaller women. And Anomen standing in the midst of the fray, yelling about honor and glory and about the power of Helm, again and again lashing out with his newly aquired flail of the ages.

I have to give it to him, he was certainly effective in what he did. Stupid and reckless, but effective.

We had just descendet down into the dark catacombs, filled with the remains of the dead left and right, stepping into a large circular chamber, when moaning and scratching had filled the air. And then they had come from every direction at us, slowly but unrelentless.

You know what the problem is with fighting undead? They don't care for pain or crippling injuries. I could hack off an arm and they would just keep coming while every other enemy would fall down screaming. I had trouble with keeping the zombies and skeletons at bay, I could barely do more than trying to push them back and Jaheira was hardly a help with her wielding a spear.

"Anomen, come back here!", Milira yelled behind me. I have no idea what was happening behind me, I did not have the time to turn my head, but she sounded frantic.

If the cleric of Helm heard her, he did not react at it. With every step he pushed further ahead, the unholy creatures nearly stepping away from his presence alone, making room for him. Like I said, rather effective. If only he would do so where it was needed, I would have been happy having him with us.

"FOR HONOR AND GLORY!" Another zombie fell, the head bashed in with the three heads of the Flail of Ages, and a skeleton took it's place.

"RAAWR!" A mighty roar was suddenly to be heard directly behind me and then one of the undead was send flying by the swipe of a large bear paw. I was confused for a second and nearly paniked when suddenly a large something appeared next to me, a large mass of muscle and fur and anger. It needed a moment to realize it was Jaheira. In the form of a large grizzly. A very, very large grizzly. A very, very large and very, very angry grizzly bear.

* * *

With the combined power of Mother Nature, Helm and Minsc's axes we managed to survive the onslaught. I think there had been more than thirty of the undead at all, attacking us without ever leaving us a moment to breath, always scratching and biting and smashing at us. They had not once managed to get past my armor and shield, but every time one of them had hit against my shield my arm had shuddered as if it wasn't a zombie hitting me but a battering ram. Damn undead.

"Minsc, Azog, you take point", Milira ordered as soon as the last of the skeletons was nothing more than a small pile of bones. "Jaheira, would you be so kind and look after Aerie? I think she has taken a bad fall."

"Ah, a glorious battle", Anomen said as he stepped up to the small blonde woman, grinning from ear to ear. His armor was still gleaming in the shine of the torches, his face unmarred and his posture proud. A far cry from how I felt. I felt my blood boil at the sight of him, striding across the field of battle with this sickening smile and being totally obvious to the fact that his comrades could have been killed if not for Jaheira's special gifts. My fist balled without me realizing it and I felt the urge to punch him in the face. Repeatedly.

"Yes, Anomen, about that...", the half-elf said and gave him a tight smile. "We need to talk."

There were a few harsh words, carried by the silence of the tombs and the empty tunnels, and I could not help myself but to smile as I listened to the fool getting chewed out by Milira. Not really chewed out, not by a far shot, but there were words like foolish, responsibility and needless quest for glory.

When they rejoined us the squire did not say a word but had the look of a kicked puppy on his face. I nearly felt sorry for him. Nearly.

* * *

_Next time, another companion makes his debut. Or her. I have so far not decided which one it will be._


	9. Chapter 8: Of spiders and geeks

_I was on a roll and have written this chapter in one day. There is also a pic for Azog now, done by Bryan, thanks a lot to him. You can find I link on my author page._

* * *

**Chapter 8: Of spiders and geeks**

The catacombs were immense. There was no other way to say it, the tunnels seemed to stretch on endlessly into the darkness, twisting and turning and going on forever. It was a terrible labyrinth filled with the stench of death and moldy, stale air. It was certainly no pleasant place to be and yet I did not feel really uncomfortable down there. My mind was telling me that there were hundreds upon hundreds of tons of rubble and dirty only waiting to fall down onto me and that there were uncounted hordes of undead only waiting to jump from the next dark corner, yet I did not feel threatened or frightened by the prospect.

"My people have stories about such places...", Aerie whispered more to herself than to us as we rounded a corner into yet another chamber filled with old stone sacrophagus'. "Under the earth is just no place for the Avariel."

Apparently I was the only one feeling that way, even if only Aerie was so brave and say her state of mind out loud, the others kept that to themselves. I had seen how Minsc had whispered encouraging words to Boo and how Jaheira had taken several seconds to gather herself. Anomen was then and now mumbling small prayers to Helm, asking for guidance and strength and rightous might.

"Don't worry Aerie", I said to the small elven girl with a slight smirk. I could just not help myself. "If the tunnel should collapse, we would be dead before we would notice. It would be over in and instant."

She gave me those big, questioning eyes filled with fear and confusion. "Ah... um... th-thank you?"

I sighed slightly. It seemed my attempts at jokes were not only not appreciated, they weren't even understood as humor. "That was a joke."

"... oh." She bit her lower lip. "I-I'm sorry."

"Don't sweat it."

We searched the tombs in a system which only Milira really understood. Which was fine by me. She was drawing a map while we made our way through the tunnels, managing not to get lost in the process. As much as I was at ease down there, I had totally lost my sense for directions after a while and did just what Milira told me to do.

The few undead we encountered we made short work off, the narrow tunnels were perfectly suited for my style of fighting and thought it was hard work to withstand the assault from three zombies at once, once Aerie had cut them down with melfs magic meteors and a magic missile the last one was easy prey.

We stumbled upon a few would be grave robbers, by now as dead as their victims. And as wrong as it felt to robb the graves of upstanding people, robbing those who had done so... not so much.

I have no idea how long we had spend in the dark tunnels below the graveyard when we stumbled into the first spiders nest. And this time I'm not talking about the regular spiders, I'm talking about the big, ones, the size of large dogs with eight legs and hungry for our flesh.

I was the first to see, thanks to my ability to see in the dark, the nest itself and immediately stopped. Before me the tunnel opened once again into a bigger cavern, half natural and half manmade. However the entire walls were covered in thick, big spiderwebs and the ground was entirely covered in... something. I thought small pebbles at first. "I think there is a spider's nest in front of us. A big one."

While I waited for orders I studied the scene in front of me. Spiders are incredibely short sighted, relying mostly on their sense to feel the vibrations throught their webs, and thus I was rather sure that if they did not know we were there yet, they would not do so if we remained where we were. It was a large room, about ten meters long and half that in broadth, but I had no idea how tall the ceiling was. The inside was filled with massive stone sacrophagi, though these too were completely covered in spider webs.

"Aerie, have you prepared burning hands?", asked Milira suddenly and apparently the small avariel gave a negative nonverbal answer, because only seconds later our leader asked: "Jaheira, do you have something to help us out here?"

"Of course I do." I could not make out what she was mumbling, though I understood that it was a spell, but a few moments later a new light appeared behind me as a flaming sword materialized in the hands of the druidess. However, I was occupied with the discovery that the pebbles on the ground, weren't pebbles at all. They were bones. Human bones. At least I think so. The numerous skulls on the ground indicated so.

"Shouldn't we... Shouldn't we just... find a w-way... around?", Aerie whispered from her position at the end of our small group, but she was ignored. I had no reason to let these spiders be. They were man eaters and though we had been hired to deal with the undead in the tombs, I'm sure the paladins would take kindly to the notice that we killed off a nest of dangerous spiders in the process.

"Jaheira, how do you propose we do this?", Milira asked, her voice a bit tight but still friendly. For a second there was no reply, then we were given commands and a few moments later we stormed in, torches and flaming sword swinging.

* * *

Killing undead is honest business. Killing man eating spiders is honest business too. But uglier and messier.

First thing, these spiders weren't shortsighted like normal ones, they had seen us from the moment we had stepped into the tunnel leading to the chamber. Second, they had understood what that meant when they had seen the light from our torches. Third, spiders organs swim in a sort of jelly like substance, all slimy and icky and just... well, not pleasant. And fourth, huge man eating spiders are faster and more agile than you would think.

Aerie was healing the big, ugly scratch in my face were one of the legs of a swordspider had left a dirty gash. I had been lucky, Minsc was lying on the ground being deadly pale and sweating, shivering, the veins in his left arm blue from the dangerous poison one of the beasts had managed to inject him with. Lucky for us, mostly him, that Jaheira had been prepared two antivenom spells and Milira had five of such poisons in her backpack.

Thanks to the fire the spider webs had been cleaned away at an alarming speed, burning down in a matter of seconds, evening the odds to our favor. Still the little, and not so little, beasts had been quite the challenge. Because it's all well and fine if you protect the ground until some eight legged monster attackes you from above.

Still we had managed and it was a few minutes later that we, that means Milira and me, searched the floor of the room for anything usefull. A lot of people had died in there over time and left behind their belongings, including an old leather bag with coins worth about one hundred gold, a few rusty weapons and... a blue glowing axe of exceptional craftmansship.

"Here Minsc, I think this is something for you", Milira said as she gave the well balanced weapon to the large rashemi warrior, who tested the weight once and swung it twice to get a feeling for it. It was a very well made weapon, incredible sharp and well preserved despite laying in a tomb for how the gods know how long.

With our wounds cleaned and healed and our bald warrior wielding a new weapon we left the spider nest. In the following hour we rooted out two more of those, thought smaller ones, and stumbled upon uncounted of the undead, skeletons and zombies mostly. Luckily for us it was simple to deal with them when they were few in numbers, Anomen alone was able to cut them down to size thanks to the holy power Helm granted him.

My muscles were beginning to burn and my arms were getting tired and I was about to ask to call it a day, when I rounded a corner and found myself facing a large chasm in the ground. A large chasm filled with thick spider webs building bridges, a cocoon like structure hanging in the middle of the massive opening. How deep underground were we, that such a large building could be constructed there. "Milira, I think you should take a look at that."

She rounded the corner behind me and blinked into the darkness. She needed a few seconds to make out what I had seen, then finally her expression changed to confusion. "Well... shall we take a look?"

"Spiders would not create such a thing on their own", Jaheira advised with a whispery voice. "Whoever is responsible for this will most likely not be welcoming towards us. We should leave them be and do what we came here for."

"Jaheira, where is your sense of adventure? Your sense of wonder?", Milira teased with a sly grin. A sly grin which was whipped off her face when the older woman answered.

"My sense of adventure and wonder had died with my beloved husband in the dungeons of that madman."

Ouch.

We called it a day at that point.

* * *

"Jaheira, do you have a moment?" I looked up from my seat in the audience box at the arena. Down below on the sandy ground two of my former fellow slaves were busy with fighting each other with a blunted sword and a small shield each. This time however not for the amusement of the rich and bored, but because they wanted it, because they wanted to train and had a bit of energy to burn. It was a friendly competition between two warriors, nothing more.

Still, entertaining to watch and as I was nursing the many bruises my body had endured, even after the healing magic applied by Aerie and Anomen, it was a nice way to spend my time. Not fighting myself but watching others pummeling each other. With a drink, as piss poor as it tasted, and something to snack on, cold chicken, this was nearly comfortable, reminding me of a nice day on a couch in front of the TV, watching sports. Not that I had done much of that.

Apparently Jaheira had the same idea as I had, sitting a few seats removed from me and busy with cleaning her weapons and other equipment, trying not to make it obvious that she was ogling the two sweaty, well build men down below in the arena. I did not comment on it, I just smirked to myself and enjoyed the show. At least until Milira suddenly appeared between us.

She was no longer dressed in her leather armor and equipment belt, but was wearing a simple tunic and breeches, her hair loose and open. Still she looked downright sexy, even just dressed so down. It had to be her grace and the lightness of her movements, the way her mouth turned so easily into that great smile, the slender hands with the long fingers, the delicate, slightly pointy ears. I bet she would look even better...

Bad Azog, bad Azog, no sexual thoughts about Charname, no no no no no. Bad Azog.

"You are welcome to spend your time in my company, if that is what you wish to do my young friend", Jaheira answered without looking up from her work, now even more busying herself with a spot on her dagger. A dagger made from the chitinous plating of an Ankheg as she had told me, as she abored the use of items made of metal. Hmmm, that's druids for you.

The smaller half elf slipped into the seat next to the druidess and leaned back, for a moment looking down to the fight below, openly ogling the two men who had by now began to wrestle with each other, before saying to her companion: "I ask for your forgivness for my behaviour this morning. It was not right of me to brush you off so easily."

"You have my forgivness, you do not need to ask", the older woman answered bruskly. "I accept your decision, even if I'm not happy with it, and will still follow you wherever you decide to lead us. There is nothing more to say on the matter."

"But I think there is", Milira informed her with a friendly, slightly tired voice. "I... I don't just want you to accept my decision, I want you to understand it. The least you deserve my friend is an explanation why I do something foolish as taking along a possible burden."

There was a short tense moment in which Jaheira seized her up, then it ended when she nodded and returned her gaze back to her dagger. By now the blade was cleaner than an elven behind, but she busied herself with scrubbing it even more clean. "Speak then."

"She reminds me of Imoen." Well, that was... surprising. "Not Imoen as she is now, not after everything what happened, but Imoen as she once was. Small, innocent, wide eyed Imoen before Gorion's death and Sarevok and the mines of Nashkel and everything. All laughter and jokes and stupid pranks."

"That girl is not Imoen. Imoen is held captive by the cowled ones and if we want to save her, we should not dally."

"I know." The voice of the blond half-elven girl was heavy with a certain amount of sadness, though she still managed to smile. A sad, tight smile however. "Believe, I know. But... But... What would Imoen think, if I come to her rescue and because of my hurry another innocent girl died? What would Gorion think? What... What would the young, innocent Milira think, the one you have taken in when she did not know where to turn to, when the whole world was suddenly evil and terrible?"

Again a pause followed, this time a longer one. From the corner of my eye I saw Jaheira studying her younger companion, sadly I wasn't able to see her face. I imagined it to soften and give her an encouraging smile. However I saw how she nearly hesitantly slid a slim hand forward and gripped that of Milira, if even for a second.

There were no more words exchanged and the druidess pulled her hand back the instant the looming figure of Minsc appeared behind us, already announced by his heavy steps. "Azog! Boo wishes to see Minsc to spar with you!"

"Ufff... Do I have to?"

* * *

It had been mid afternoon when we returned from the tombs to the surface, to heavy rain I might add, and we had spend the rest of the day eather licking our wounds, refilling our batteries or, like Minsc seemed to delight in, fighting against each other.

The big rashemi beserker was a horrible opponent, swinging his two weapons at a dazzling speed, threatening to overpower one with brute strength and wildness alone. Every attack against my shield thundered through my arm into my body, which was nothing compared to when he managed to outmaneuver me and hit me directly. I wouldn't say he was better than me, our fighting styles were just to different, but he won four times out of five. And the one win I managed to land was luck. Hmpf.

Anomen... Anoment was a horrible opponent too. Not because he was better, because he wasn't, not by a far shot, but because he was just so proud. The first match between us I won because I sidestepped a swing from him, bashed my shield against his face and then had my sword at his neck. The second I won by tripping him, ending the match in a matter of seconds. And with every win I landed he grew more and more frustrated. Finally, I think it was after he landed on his arse for the sixth time, he just shouted: "You do not fight with honor! I have better things to do than to dally with such childish notions!"

As he stormed out I could not help but to grin broadly. In secret.

It was already late evening when Nalia and Lith returned to us, both apparently in a good mood, grinning from ear to ear and having a certain swing to their step. They joined us at the evening table, that means Aerie, Minsc, Jaheira and me. Milira was meeting with another possible employer and Anomen had returned to the order, leaving us four back alone.

Other than this morning Lith was no longer dressed in a simple dress, and no that was no word play, but in a rather nice looking black tunic, dark brown breeches, boots reaching up to her knees and a well made leather jerkin in dark red. And all that was hidden under a fine, expensiv looking cloak made of orange wool. I think they had spend more money on her wardrobe than I had on my armor, as they were also carrying a pack with spare clothes.

"Good business my friends", Nalia greeted us and slid onto a free chair, apparently in a good mood. "Where is Milira, I am burning to tell her of the information we have been able to find."

"Busy", I replied with my mouth half full. "She'll be back soon. I think."

"Good. Because we have found out quite a lot. Have we not my dear?"

Lith grinned in reply, a grin which exposed her sharp and slightly elongated fangs. "We have. It was a very good day. We went shopping and found oh so many cool shops and thing on the promenade and there is this awesome one run by a former adventurer called the Adventurers Mart, the shop, not the man, and there you can find, like, nearly everything you need. And then we went to the docks and the bridge and the slums and met with beggars and whores and, like, small time thieves and such and guards and it was really neat what you cand find out when you smile and ask nicely and, like, give them a few gold coins and such."

I blinked at her, trying to comprehend what she had just said and how she had said it. "Don't you have to breath?", I finally asked with an amused smile on my lips, at which she pouted and her face flushed... darker. Because red she was anyway.

"Ah, you're back, good." I have no idea how Milira always managed to slip in without anyone, at least not me, noticing, but she had done so again, suddenly sitting between us. "Lith, you look good. A bit too red for my taste, but it suits you."

The dark red of her face became even more dark and she tried to hide a smile, biting her lower lip and looking away, yet clearly pleased by the compliment. "Thank you", she mumbled.

"Well Nalia, what have you managed to come up with besides a well looking change of clothes for our red skinned friend?"

The young noble woman, clearly amused by the display of Lith being shy all of a sudden and being just damnable cute, gave Milira a obviously pleased smile. However that smile vanished after a few moments and was replaced by a somber, serious expression. "A lot. This Mae'Var is well known in certain circles and not for his pleasant nature. Quite the opposite to be honest. There are rumors that he tortures people for fun and that he had skinned a few men alive for betraying him. His guild operates in the northern city, yet where exactly I can't say, though most people believe it is his men who are being paid by the whores in the Bridge district and the backstreets between the Temple and the Government district. Black Lotus smuggling and human trafficing, thievery, extortion, murder, that's how the guards and the people from the streets say he is making his money."

"Wh-Why is such a man not... not in prison?", Aerie asked from her position next to Minsc, her face horrofied. "If everyone knows... why hasn't someone... um... Arrested him?"

"Because sadly, that isn't how the justice works in a human civilization", Jaheira snorted. "Judges can be bought, witnesses can vanish or change their mind, the system is... full of flaws."

"As much as it paines me to admit it, Jaheira speaks the truth. However, let's not get into a discussion about the state of the juristical system, shall we?", our leader said diplomatically, most likely to keep Nalia from explaining her point of view, about rebuilding the entire society. "I will meet with Renal Bloodscalp soon and inform him that I will take the contract. But until then, there are a few things we should do first."

With a self satisfied smirk she pulled out a small piece of parchment, sliding it across the table towards Jaheira, who took it and scanned what was written on it. "I have asked Hendak to keep out his ears and eyes for possible paying work we can do and he had informed me of a man named Pimlico looking for adventurers."

"Lord Pimlico?", asked Nalia suddenly, her interest piqued.

"You know him?"

"I know of him", she explained. "He is well known in the nobility of Athkatla for he is somewhat excentric. His passion is the colleting of rare books, the rarer the better, willing to pay a lot of money for them. In the past he had often hired adventuring groups to find and bring a special book to him. I take it he wants us to do so?"

"You are correct", Milira answered nodding. "There is an old, one-of-a-kind book, hidden in the catacombs underneath the graveyard district, the book of Kaza. He wants us to retrieve it and bring it to him, offering us no less than two thousand pieces of gold. On the morrow we return to the catacombs, rooting out the last remaining undead and finding that book. And of course checking out the large cocoon."

"Wow, so we're going dungeon crawling?", Lith asked grinning, all but jumping around on her chair, her hands gripping the large mug of ale. "I'm so excited, that's, like, totally cool."

Milira blinked in slight confusion and I could not help myself but to smirk in amusement. "Though I do not understand why you are cold...", the half-elf began to answer, obviously confused about the strange choice of words. "... you will not come with us. Azog, I want you to spend the day on the morrow with her, training. See how well she can wield a weapon and find something that suites her."

Damn.

* * *

"That's totally unfair", the small red skinned girl whined in a way only a teenage girl can manage. I think it's a specific racial ability for human teenage girl to be able to do so, like the elven low-light-vision and the dwarven resistance to poison. "I'm a part of the group too. I can help. But no, I'm stuck here with you, doing, like, training and stuff. That's just so lame."

I raised my eyebrows at that. It was the next day already and the others had left for the crypts shortly after breakfast, leaving Lith'Gael and me behind. Speaking of the girl, I still did not know her real name and to be honest, I wasn't really interested in it either. Why should I? I was Azog now, no longer having the name of my old life, so why should she be different in that matter?

"Thank you very much, I too like to spend time with you", I replied dryly. To be honest, I could understand her. I too would have preferred to accompany our companions into the dungeon under the graveyard, yet there I was, stuck with babysitting. Because it was babysitting. Important babysitting, true, but babysitting non the less. We were standing in the sandy arena in the backrooms of the Copper Coronet, once again using it for training purposes, as it was perfectly suited for such an endeavor.

"Oh come on, it's nothing 'gainst you it's just, like, lame to do such a thing. I could be having adventures and perhaps even safe every one. Who knows, perhaps they are in deathly danger right now and will dow because I'm not there", she began to babble.

Instead of answering to that I only threw a short sword into her direction. "Here, catch."

She did not catch it. Instead she jumped back in surprise and the weapon bounced to the ground harmlessly. "Hey, are you insane? That's like, dangerous! I could have cut me!"

She's afraid of a little cut but wants to go into a dungeon and fight against monsters? Not such a good start I'd say. It was a blunt training weapon anyway, the worst that could have happened would have been a slight bruising, nothing more. "Take the sword."

"I don't have to do what you're saying", she replied and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You're not my boss."

My bushy eyebrows rose even higher. Was this girl trying to get me angry? Well, it wasn't really working, she was just annoying me. "Take the sword", I said again.

"Whatever." At least she did it.

And lost it immediately when I took a swing at her, hitting the sword from her weak grip. I sighed slightly. "Okay. We'll start with the basics."

"Oh come on, that's totally unfair. Just because you're her so much longer than I am and have already learned to fight doesn't mean that you have to be such an ass", Lith whined while giving me a pouting look.

"I actually arrived here three weeks before you did", I replied. "Now stop whining and take a stance. Feet shoulder length apart. Knees slightly bend."

She did so, but did not stop her whining. I felt the urge to slap the brat but stopped myself from doing it and just sighed once again. This was going to be a very long day.

By the time the sun has risen to it's highest point, practically cooking the slums in the sweat and stench of too many people on too little room, I had at least managed to teach her how to dodge an incoming blow. If the blow is rather slow and easy to see, but it was a start. As she collapsed on the ground, her body covered in sweat and her breathing hard, I used the moment to get us some water to drink. She drank hers hasty, coughing as she swallowed too fast, but she would live.

"Sooo...", she began then and sat up, turning towards me. Other than her I was rather fine, my body was used to such hard work. Perhaps not my mind, but apparently the body I had been given by fate was well versed in the fighting arts, equipped with strong, tough muscles and quite good muscle memory. "How did you learn, like, so fast to fight?"

"I didn't", I replied tonelessly. "I could just do it from the moment I arrived her."

"Oh man!", she cried out in frustration. "That's so unfair! Why did you get to be such an asskicker and I am so, like, useless?"

I shrugged. I could not really say why we were so different in that regard, but I had a theory. "Well, I had build my character with rather good stats in strength and constitution. And six levels in the fighter class."

She looked at me in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Hmmm. The plot thickens. "You know, DnD character? I have created my character and this is the body I'm in now, including the skills and feats an all."

"OMG, you're a geek!", she squeeled in frustration. "I can't believe it! I'm stuck here with a geek!"

I blinked at her and sighed. So she was that kind of teenager girl. And I had thought I did not have to deal with them after I was done with school. Fate can be a cruel mistress. "Yes, I am a geek. Which is, I guess, a good thing in our situation. It's not my fault you did build such a weak character."

"Hey, that's not true!", she immediately protested. "I did nothing at all! I just appeared here!"

Huh? It seems we haven't arrived the same way in Faerûn. I had suspected so before, but the question was now: Why? Apparently she came to the same conclusion as I did, because she then asked me: "So, how did you wind up here?"

"Don't you think that's kinda personal?", I replied dryly. Though I did not think so myself, I could not help myself but to tease her a bit.

She rolled with her eyes. "No."

Oh well, fair enough. "Hmmm... Well, I died."

"Oh. I'm sorry", she said with a suddenly very apologeptic expression on her face. She had a very open face I thought at that moment, a kind and cute face with a lot of different, pleasing expressions. The kind of face to with you would want to tell your secrets and could spend hours looking at. She was, in one word, cute.

I shrugged and took a sip from my water. "Don't be. I'm fine with it."

"Geez, that's kina, like, sad. So, you think's it's okay to die?"

"I had a long time to get used to the idea. Was inevitable." That was true too. I did of course my old life, the things I knew and had back then, but then again, it had been time to move on. I had accepted the idea of dying years before it had been my time, something which was perhaps a good thing.

"So, you're, like, old? I mean, you were old?", she asked me. By now she was sitting cross legged on the ground with her hands on her knees, giving me an interested look. It seems suddenly I was not just a geek any more.

"Actually, I was twenty eight."

"Oh." She took a moment to take that in. "That's kinda old... a bit. I mean... compared to... um... me."

Again I shrugged and gave her a slight smirk. "If you say so."

"So, how did you die?" Now perhaps that was kind of a personal question, but I think I would have asked myself too. It was natural to be interested in such stuff. I mean, how often can you talk with someone who had died? And I did not have real problems talking about stuff, my old life was behind me and I had moved on. So I could easily talk about it, like I would talk about a book I have read.

"Tumor in my head. Inoperabel", I replied.

Her expression turned from interested to apologeptic in a single moment, giving me big eyes and a slightly pained look. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Again a shrug. "Now get up, enough pause for you. Shortsword or mace?"

"Ugh." She just groaned and slumped back to the ground, suddenly all pityfull again and half dead. It was nearly amusing to see. But I had way too much fun torturing her with training than to let her be. And anyway, the more pain she has in training, the less she has later when it is real.

* * *

I sat on a bench outside the Copper Coronet, puffing a pipe I had bought on my first trip to the promenade and had not been able to use till now. Though uncommon in Faerûn, tobacco was actually one of the many vices you could indulge in when you were in Athkatla and one of the few which were also legal.

To my shame I must admit that I had been a chain smoker in my former life. Though I did not feel the urge to have a minute every five minutes any longer, thanks to having a new body, I was only too happy to indulge in a little guilty pleasure now and then. Nothing serious like out of control gambling or Black Lotus, but just a pipe now and then.

The sun was setting and I had my feet kicked up on a small box I had found abandoned in the streets, just enjoying the last moments of sunlight before nightfall would come. So far Milira and the others had not returned and Lith had collapsed into bed at the earliest moment possible after the training, giving me a few hours of solitude.

Solitude I did use to think.

Why was Lith in this world? I did not care why I was there, not really, I mean, I was done with my former live, it was over. I had said my goodbyes and everything, more than many could say. But Lith had not died. She had been pulled into, and that is a big cliché there as there ever was one, her computer. While reading a fanfiction. What sort of fanfiction? And was that all there was to it?

And why had been turned into a demon girl? I mean, I was a half-orc thanks to me deciding to be so, I could understand that. But her? She had apparently not done so. So why not just dumping her in this world as her old self, as a human?

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the voice of Minsc, yelling at me as he made his way up to the entrance of the tavern. "Friend Azog! We are back! And look, we have brought more friend!"

"Yeah, I can see that...", I said to myself with a slight smile, giving the group a one over. They were dirty, their clothes torn at a few places, but seemed contempt. And there were seven of them. Practically hiding behind Anomen was another person I had not seen before, clad in a dark cloak with a hood which was hiding the persons face. At least to those who could not see in darkness.

* * *

_Well, I have still not decided who will be the next companion. _


	10. Chapter 9: Roll for initiative!

_I took my sweet time with this chapter, I just had to rewrite some things again and again and again and I'm still not happy with it. At all. But, well, I have to move on. Perhaps I'll update this chapter later, perhaps not, I don't know yet._

* * *

**Chapter 9: Roll for initiative!**

I can't say that I have died a virgin in my former life. Actually I had a rather active sex life right until about a month before I slipped away into sleep. To be honest, I had used my sicknesss as a way to get laid. A friend of mine would let it slip that I had an illness of which I would die, we would get into a conversation and finally she would sleep with me. It worked about one in three tries, which is a pretty good average if you ask me. I know, it sound's morbid, but hey, I had been the one dying, I had been allowed to use the tumor in my head to my advantage.

Anyway, when I laid eyes upon the old friend and possible new companion of Milira, I felt like a virgin again. Because I could not do anything else but stare at her. To say it simple, Viconia Devir was neither pretty nor hot nor merely attractive. She was unbelievable beautiful.

Her hands so slender and dextrous. Her eyes deep and full of expression. Her skin made of dark obsidian, her hair seemingly out of pure silver. Her features were not merely lovely, they were all around beautiful.

There, I said it again. Beautiful.

Because she was.

Beautiful I mean.

"What is it jaluk? Have you never seen a woman of superiority before?"

However, her cruel, superior smirk and the sharpness of her tongue destroyed the impression I had of her immediately. I shook myself out from the stubor and suddenly there wasn't just her an I any longer, but a tavern filled with a lot of different people, drinking, shouting, being merry, you get the picture.

"Azog", Milira said with a kind smile on her lips and indicated to an empty chair at the large table they were sitting on. I sat down and send a small prayer to Tempus, or whatever god was willing to listen, that I had not made too much of a fool our of myself by standing there and staring slackjawed. "This is Viconia, an old friend of mine and trusted companion. We have met her in the tunnels under the Graveyard and she helped us with a priestess of Lloth living there."

"A pityfull creature as I had ever seen one", Viconia sneered, her distate not only apparent in her voice but also her expression. "We had done her a favor by relieving her of her burden of life."

"I find the lack of remorse you feel for the death of a sentient being quite distatefull", Jaheira, who sat next to me, shot at her. "And, to be frank, also alarming."

"Pha. You lie to yourself when you say that you don't feel pleasure upon the deaths of your enemies. Do not try to fool me with that superior attitude, I know you good enough", the drow shot back, meeting the glare with one of her own. All men at the table, that means Anomen, Minsc and me, had the good head to keep ourselves out of this confrontation. Though somewhere in the back of my mind the word "catfight" was yelled over and over again.

"Friends, not now." Milira once again stepped in and though she was smaller than Jaheira and less imposing that Viconia, both listened to her. Not that they would stop shooting each other dirty looks, but they kept the peace. "Azog, I hope you will have no problems with working together with Viconia?"

She gave me a pointed look.

I think she had misunderstood my open staring. I was relieved. And horrofied. At the same time. On one hand, I did perhaps not look like a lovestruck fool. And on the other, I did perhaps look like some kind of racist. Not that such a notion was uncommon in this world, sadly, but still, I did not like the idea of me being seen as a racist. So I asked: "Do you trust her?"

"Yes I do."

"Then that is good enough for me."

Satiesfied with the answer our blonde leader let go of the subject and the conversations turned to a somewhat lighter tone. First about our financial situation, which was okay at the moment, and then about what to do next. Not all of the money would of course go to the amount of gold set to the side to safe Imoen, about half of it would be needed for better equipment, logging, potions and so on. So we would need to do even more mercenary and adventurer work.

"Our group is large enough that we could tackle several contracts at once", Milira finally said after listening to the conversation for a while. Aerie and Lith were keeping out of it, whispering to each other and giggling from time to time, while Anomen, Jaheira and Nalia all had very vocal opinions on how to proceed. "Nalia, you and I, we will meet with Renal Bloodscalp tomorrow at noon. The rest of you, team up and search for possible employers. Taverns, the watch, temples, the government, I don't care, as long as they are paying and we are not forced to do evil deeds."

* * *

That night I was woken up by loud screaming and screeching, shrill and the voice filled with panic. Immediately my body was flooded with adrenaline and out of reflex I grabbed to my side where I kept a small hand axe. I have no idea why I had done so in the first place, perhaps something in the back of my mind had said it would be a good idea. Turns out I was tuned to react accordingly.

Only clad in a pair of loose breeches I stormed out of the room, panikly looking down the corridor to find out where the screaming was coming from. Female screaming by the way. By then it was more of a whimper and sobbing and I was not the only one on the corridor, Minsc and Milira and Jaheira where there too, as others I did not know.

"It's coming from Aerie's room", Milira said in a brusk business like manner, already storming down the hallway to the door of the named room, all but kicking it open, we others hard on her heels. I could see over the heads of the two women and was also able to see in the dark, thus I could make out the scene inside.

Aerie was sitting on one of the beds, holding the whimpering and sobbing Lith in her arms, whispering shoothing words to her. I relaxed immediately, realizing that it would have been a nightmare most likely.

"WHERE IS THE ENEMY WHO HAD DARED TO INSULT MINSC'S FRIEND?!", Minsc hollered, axes in hands. It seems not everybody had understood.

I returned to bed soon after, after Minsc and I had checked for the intruder he thought must be around. I humored him and after he and I informed Milira that the enemy must have fled as he heard us approach, she could not help but smile at that, I sneaked back into my room and crawled back into my, by then cold, bed.

However the night was over for me as I soon learned. I was just about to be carried off into the land of dreams, when a soft knock on my door startled me. With my head not fully there I groaned something in orcish, I think it was orcish and rolled onto my side. Then again there was a knock. Not a loud hammering one, but a weak, soft one. Again I groaned but this time I crawled out from under my covers and made the impossibly long way to the door. When I opened I saw directly into the face of Lith, who gave me a weak smile on her tear soaked face.

"Um... do you have a minute?", she asked, sounding apologeptic.

For a few moments I stared at her, then I stepped back into the room and allowed her to come in. Following the unspoken invite she slipped past me into the small room. "Why do you have a single room and everyone else has to, like, share a room with someone else?"

She was dressed in a simple cream colored tunic and loose blue breeches, comfortable enough to slip into in no time at all. Her hair was a total mess, a serious case of bed hair, and she looked like shit. And I don't mean that in an offensive way, but just that she looked tired and weary and seriously spooked. The smile on her face did not fool me for a single second.

"Because after sleeping in a shared cell for several weeks, I have found an all new admiration for privacy", I mumbled with a yawn somewhere inside that sentence, closing the door again. Softly. "Why are you here?"

That sounded harsher than I intended it to be, but I was just very tired and my mind was not all there at that moment.

"Um... I can't sleep. I mean, I could, perhaps, but I don't want to", she began to explain, her voice rather fast and nearly incomprehandle for me at that moment. "Aerie thinks I'm asleep again, I think, but I just waited till she was snoring again and then I slipped, like, out of the room. You know?"

Numbly I nodded and sat down on the single chair in the room. She herself seemed unable to sit down at the moment, way to full of nervous energy. "So... Nothing 'gainst you, but... I'm very, very tired... So... If you could please tell me what you want?"

"Oh, I can come back tomorrow. If that is okay then? But I'd like to do it now. So, should I... come back, like, tomorrow or..." She again began to babble and I silenced her with a somewhat annoyed glance.

"No, it's okay", I mumbled as an answer. "What is it?"

It was hard following her explanations, because she began somewhere in the middle and ended at the start and I was like I said very tired. But after a few minutes I began to understand that the dream she had that night had seriously spooked her. Her head filled with horrible images of death and decay and slaughter and rape and torture. Her own rape and torture and slaughter. Done by monsters and humans and sometimes even people she had recognized as her parents, just not her parents from the "real-world" but beings she immediately thought of as her parents.

"It's like... they're memories and not dreams...", she finished weakly, by now sitting on my bed with her legs pulled up and her arms slung around them. "Only... they're so confusing... And they don't make any sense."

I scratched my chin, like I had began to do when I think. A new habit of mine. "Perhaps... I don't know, perhaps they are your memories and you have just..." I shrugged, a bit helpless. "... not yet decided which are your real memories?"

She gave me a confused look. "What do you mean? That doens't really makes sense... But then again, us being here doesn't make sense either."

I nodded. My mind slowly began to work like an old machine not used for several years and suddenly started up again. Squeeky and rusty but slowly building up speed. Very slowly. "Say... Look, I too have memories of my life here. Only they are not confusing but rather clear and singular. Like a TV series I had watched, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I get it", she answered. "But why are yours so easy to understand and mine not? I mean, are your's really your memories or... just... I don't know, like, a story?"

"Is there a difference?"

For a moment she thought about it, before she shrugged. "Perhaps. I don't know." Suddenly her face cleared up a bit, like she had an idea all of the sudden. "Say, you have said that you have, like, build your new you, don'tcha?"

Now it was me who shrugged. "Yes, I think I have told you that."

"And you have like, created everything? Like, backstory and stuff?"

"Yeah, yes I did."

"See... See, that's why your new memories are so easy to understand and mine aren't. You have created them beforehand and I haven't." She beamed at me. "So I only have to do a simple thing."

I waited for an explanation. After none came for several moments I answered: "Okay, I bite. What do you have to do?"

"Simple. I create my character."

* * *

"So, what do I do first?"

Like I had said, the night was over for me. Still tired but at least holding a cup of tea in my hands I found myself in the deserted main room of the tavern a few minutes later, together with Lith. We were sitting at a small table, parchments of paper between us, a quill and ink, a few die.

"First, you roll your ability stats." I had entirely forgotten how to deal with newbies to the game, I have not done so for a while. "For that you take the die and..."

When she began to roll the die my eyes got bigger and bigger every time she scribbled down her stats. To be fair, I usually run a high power game, thus we use a system to create better abilities than the norm is, but her luck was just unbelievable. I had no idea if her idea would work, but if it would, then she would be extremely skilled. I mean... 18, 18, 17, 14, 12, 10? That is superhuman.

"And now?"

I took a sip from my steaming hot tea and thought to myself to find some honey for it. But to her I said: "Normaly you would now decide on a race and class, but... I think you already have a race."

"Yeah, demon-elf."

"Fey'ri", I corrected.

"What?" She gave me a confused look.

"Your species", I answered with a tired and unamused smiled. "Your species is called Fey'ri, half sun-elf, half demon. Extremely rare and hated, but powerful. Quick on their feet in mind and body... and able to cast magic... at least usually." Again I scratched my chin and then asked her: "Can you do magic?"

She shrugged and gave me a confused smile. "I... I don't know. So, I can cast spells? Or, I, like, should?"

"Perhaps." I could not really answer. "Anyway, you should still decide on a class."

"Okay", she replied with a nod and a smile. "What classes are there?"

"..." I sighed. "You want them in alphabetical order?"

"Um... how many are there?"

"11 in the core rulebook, 12 in the _Complete_ books, 4 in the extended core rules... should I also add psionic ones?"

This could take a while.

* * *

She did not have the soul of a warrior, not the kind of girl willing to go toe to toe with enemies and smash their heads in. Not only because, like she said, that this is kinda icky, I think it's also because she's just not that kind of girl. Violence comes more natural to men and boys, my honest opinion, and it takes a special kind of girl to willingly become something like that. Or a lot of anger and hurt.

I am kinda relieved to say, that she lacks this anger and hurt inside of her. Not for me, but for her.

So no melee combat class for her. She is also not the kind of girl to sneak up on people and slit throats or steal their posessions, she's kinda clumsy for that. And a wizard...

"So, wizards have to learn for years to be able to cast even their first spell?", she asked me with wide eyes and a kind of awe. "I mean... can't they just... um, do that stuff?"

"Nope." I shrugged. "That's sorcerers."

She stared at me for a moment, before sighing. "That's like, totally confusing", she then said with a tired, weak smile. "I... I actually remember learning... learning magic. In an academy, with classes and stuff."

"You're not talking about Hogwarts, are you?", I asked her with a single raised eyebrow.

She had to giggle at that. "No, not Hogwarts. Though... kinda. Only... I don't REALLY remember, you know? It's just like I remember that I remember it. You understand what I mean?"

Now it was for me to stare at her, which I did, before I shrugged again. "Not really. It's very confusing and to be fair, I'm very tired at the moment."

"Yeah, I'm not making much sense right now I guess", she admitted and gave me a little smile. "Thank you... for doing this I mean... like, sitting here, helping me and all. It's..." She paused, as if to think of what to say, before she finished her sentence: "Nice. You're a nice guy."

"I try to", I grunt in reply, though I tried for it to be a friendly one. I took another sip from my tea. "So... magic I guess? Because as you said yourself, you're not really warrior material and neither the sneaky one, are you? How is your singing voice?"

"Oh no, not a bard. No chance in hell."

"The hells actually, there are nine layers of them", I reply with a slight smirk at the annoyance in her voice. "So, magic it is?"

"Yeah, magic it is", she confirmed with a nod and a grin. "But with the wizard spells, not priest spells. I don't believe in god... s. Usually. Till now." Again a pause, then she added: "Till now. Anyway, one with wizard spells."

"So, Wizard or Sorcerer? Or something else perhaps?"

"Not a wizard", she replied with a somewhat pained expression. "I'm not one... to study. I mean, I was good enough in, like, school, but... not one to study. You know. Me going to wizard school... no, not likely... So... What else is there?"

"Beguiler, Warmage, Wu-Jen, Spellthief, Duskblade..." I scratched my chin, then I said: "Though, there are some special classes too. Not wielding spells, but... special powers."

She gave me that look which indicated that she did not could really follow me anymore. To be fair, I myself was rather confused by now. The amount of possible classes she could take was just too immense, there were too many possibibilities. I had spend a lot of time in my life with the DnD game, for a few years it had been my favorite past time, of course I knew a lot about it, especially how to build characters, but even for me it was beginning to get really confusing, I could only imagine what it could be for me.

Lith groaned and if it had been an anime, her head would have hit the table. As it wasn't, her shoulders just sagged, before whining: "Isn't there just a job, um, class with which I could, like, throw demonic spells around and shoot laser beams or something?"

I blinked at her in surprise, before answering: "Um... actually... yes, there is."

* * *

A warlock. Lith'Gaen the teenager Fey'ri warlock.

If you're not familiar with that term, the DnD class I mean, let me explain. The warlock is sort of an arcane magic user, like the wizard or sorcerer, but does not cast spells like they do. Instead he approaches the issue through sheer force of will, invoking magic by an innate magical gift he was born with, using nothing but determination and effort of will.

As I laid down onto my bed once again in the hope of catching a few more hours of snooze before I had to get up again, my tired mind was at least partially thinking about the possible outcome of what we had just done. To be fair, we had only talked and she had scribbled down some facts. Neither did she feel any different nor did I notice something chancing on her.

We would see if it would work.

But I had to admit, her becoming a warlock was somewhat fitting for her. Like she had said herself, she did not seem to be the disciplined type, which would make her a very bad wizard or melee fighter. And she lacked any sort of piety, making the way of cleric or druid ot the like rather uninviting for her. But the warlock... The power of warlocks come from their heritage, be it infernal, abyssal or perhaps even from the fey court.

And she was, after all, a half demon.

My mind still running through different scenarios I slipped off into a dreamless sleep. At least I think it was dreamless, I can not remember anything about it.

When I was awoken after a way too short amount of time by Minsc banging open my door and demanding an early training match I nearly just threw my hand axe at him and be done with it. I groaned and rolled out of bed, again at an way too early time. Outside the sun was shining already and the morning crowds of the slums were beginning to gather.

I actually did go to the arena for a short warm up spar, though I got my ass kicked by him pretty hard. When I landed on my butt for the seventh time Minsc said: "Friend Azog, Minsc and Boo see that you are not at your best! Are you sick?!"

I groaned slightly and grabbed his offered hand, pulling myself up. "No... I just..." I stopped speaking at that point. Should I tell him the truth? I decided not to, instead I shrugged as if slightly helpless. "I'm just tired. I did not sleep well. I'm sorry my friend."

"There is no need to be sorry!", Minsc hollered and grinned at me. "Boo says, what you need is a big good breakfast and some evil butt to kick!"

That did actually sound pretty good to me. The first part. The second part... not so much.

* * *

I found myself back in the temple district together with Anomen and Lith a few hours later, this time however not going to a specific designation but more or less dallying around. The only major quest I can remember being encountered in this district is the one with the cult of the eyeless, but as we had been already there two days before and not encountered the small crowd, perhaps we would not stumble upon them now either.

In the abscence of Milira, Anomen had decided that he was the one best suited to lead the small group, all but ordering Lith and me around. Several times I had felt the urge to just punch out a few of his teeth, but I just let it slide time and time again, sighing slightly. He was just so... full of himself. Telling us about how things are run in the order, how he had done this or that and how he could hardly wait to earn even more honor in the fight for glory and good.

Lith and I stood in front of the large Lathander temple, me leaning against the small wall between the walk way and the waterway, her sitting on it, her legs dangling in the air. She had decided to clad herself in her cloak, hood up, hiding nearly her complete body from view. A smart decision, especially after some people had already decided to burn her at the stake.

Anomen was inside of the temple, talking with the dawnmaster, the high priest, of the temple and had practically told Lith to stay out of the temple. Because of her kind being not being too welcome in there. He had totally ignored the look of hurt on her face and again I felt my blood boil and again I shoved it to the side. Because, as much as it was a nasty thing to say, he did kind of have a point there.

"He's a jerk."

I turned my head slightly to look at her instead of the peasants who had walked past us. Beneath the shadow of her hood she wore an expression of annoyance and stubborn anger. "Huh?"

"Anomen. He's a jerk." She made a gagging sound. "He's just so... ugh, he's... well, a jerk. What he said was totally uncalled for. Don't you think?"

"No", I answered and was already making myself ready to face her wrath. Or whining. Or whatever. "He is a jerk, yes, but... He's actually right on that part."

"Oh, come oo-on", she whined. "You can not be serious, can you? He's, like, totally rude!"

"That he is", I confirmed and gave her a pained smile. "However, you are what you are. And I am what I am. We are mongrels in the eyes of most people, that's, sadly, a fact. And you... Well, your heritage actually CAN complicate things."

She was about to protest, opening her mouth already and looking furiously at me, when I held up a hand. "No, let me finish, yes?" I sighed slightly. "Look, I don't like it either, but we must deal with facts here. All it needs is one asshole attacking you because he is an inbred idiot and we would have a disaster at hand. I'm not saying we should hide you all the time, not at all, but we must be catious."

"But... But...", Lith began to say and had trouble finding her words. "But... Lathandar is a good god! And his guys are... too. I think. Right?"

"Yes", I answered with another tired and pained smile. "However, even the good guys can be idiots."

At that point Anomen stepped out of the large temple doors and strode over to us, looking as if he owned the street and everything in his gaze. He did actually have the look of a noble knight already, I gotta give him that. "Comrades, let us continue, enough dallying for now", he said with his much too mighty attitude in his voice, already destroying the noble aura he just had seconds before around him. "The priests of Lathandar, though certainly noble in spirit, lack the will to take up the fight against evil it seems. Let us continue towards the temple of Helm. In the glorious halls of the ever watching eye I am sure we will find an opportunity to wet out steel."

Turn's out that one was a bust. As was the one of Waukeen, the ones of Selûne and Chauntea and Sune too. But Lith and I accompanied Anomen in every time after the stunt he pulled at the Lathander temple and though he had protested loudly, he had kept his silence after the small half-demon girl had just ignored him and walked into the halls of Helm, leaving behind an amused half-orc and a squire grinding his teeth.

Thankfully no one recognized Lith for what she was, otherwise this could get had ended troublesome. Not that I feared bloodshed, the presence of Anomen should set most people at ease, but... I prefer to avoid trouble.

I took the opportunity to pray to Tempus in his small temple, tucked behind the bigger one dedicated to Helm, spend a few gold coins there on a tiny donation and then rejoin my comrades before we left the district all together.

"This was a bump", Lith muttered while dragging her feet next to us. "Guy's, were walking all day. Let's, like, call it a day, yeah?"

I had to roll with my eyes, I just could not repress the urge. Did she had to start whining now? We were here on business, not on a pleasure stroll, so why... One look at her face let me rethink that. She was, in essence, only a teenage girl out of her depths thrown into a harsh world. Of course she would not be used to walk all day. Not that I would have been if not for my new body. So I just sighed.

"In the order we marched for days and if the need arose even the night", Anomen answered her with a sneer. "The fight for good does not wait for the weak."

"Yeah, but I'm not in the order!", Lith snapped back at him. "I'm hungry, I'm thirsty and my feet hurt. So we will go to a tavern and have lunch, yes?! Good!"

And with that said, snapped, she walked past us and stomped down the street. I could not help but smile at the scene, especially as Anomen could not do anything else but stare at her retreating form.

We had a bit of trouble catching up to her, it seems annoyance and frustration had renewed her energy reserves. It seem's it is true: If you say you can't go anymore, you can still manage five more miles. The human, or in this case humanoid, body is an amazing thing. When we caught up to her it was in an alleyway between an imposing mansionwall on one side and a series of back alley shops.

"Lith, slow down", I said with good humor in my voice, laying a hand on her shoulders. She stopped suddenly and tensed and immediately my good humor was gone. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up as the smell of ozone filled my nose.

"Beware, there is danger about!", Anomen yelled to us, already pulling out his flail.

"Gee, you don't say." Despite Lith's snippish answer, I felt her slight trembling and thinking fast I pulled her behind me, pulling out my falcata at the same moment.

Magic energy filled the air and what in the game would take about three seconds, in reality only needed the blink of an eye. One moment the alley was empty bar us and a few pieces of trash, then suddenly there was a soft blue light and three creatures had surrounded us. Three humanoid creatures with the heads of tigers and reverted hands, curved swords out, dressed in rich oriental clothing and upon us immediately after turning up.

"FOR HELM!", I heard Anomen yell but I did not have the time to check on him, I had a girl to protect.

I parried the first blow of the sword with my own weapon and jumped forward. I would have preferred to have my shield in hand but if I wished to use it I would have to pull it from my back, something that would take too much time. So I improvised. The attacker stumbled back as I clashed into him, my bigger and more muscular frame giving me a slight edge. My forehead crashed onto his nose and he fell with a surprised gargle.

I did not have the time to enjoy my victory because another one attacked me himself. And he was incredibely fast. The first blow I parried, the second I managed to sidestep, then came two more attacks and my left upper tigh was carved open with a vicious blow.

I screamed in pain and surprise. This fucker!

With bare milliseconds to spare I brought up my weapon to bring it between my head and the next slash, though the clash of metal onto metal send pain through my arm. I bit it back and pushed my falcata forward, intent of impaling the asshole on it.

With a speed that was just unnatural he danced back, moving as if it was the easiest thing to do, as if he was really dancing instead of fighting. He had a cruel smirk on his bestial features and I snarled in response. A short glance to the side showed me that Anomen did have problems with another attacker himself and that Lith was just... standing there, all tense and wide eyed.

Great.

Again magic filled the air as the rakshasa I had to deal with cast a spell with only a few gestures, not even mumbling any words. Magical energy danced around his free hand in a series of sickly yellowish sparks, then his entire body was surrounded by a soft glow, for a moment taking the appearance of some sort of armor.

Great. Just fucking great.

I knew that I was in trouble and wanted to end it as soon as possible, when the one I had send to the ground earlier was upon me again, slashing at me with great speed and precision. I had every trouble keeping him from slicing me open and only my armor protected me from death that moment. Sadly my arms weren't as lucky and several cuts adorned my flesh where his incredibly sharp and well made sabre cut through my chainarmor. With ease I might add.

"Fuck...", I mumbled under my breath, trying to keep my cool. I knew that if I lose my head I would be done for. I was in the defensive and slowly carved open bit by bit by two superior enemies who were not only good swordsmen, but also able to cast magic. If I would attack them they would carve me into pieces in a matter of seconds and then Lith would be entirely defenseless.

I could just hope that Anomen had more luck with his opponent and come to my rescue.

"FEEL THE WRATH OF HELM, EVIL CREATURE!"

Spending a moment I cast a glance to the other battle in the alley, where the enemy of the squire-cleric played with him. That arrogance cost him when suddenly Anomen practically burst out of his armor, his muscles rippling and his eyes filled with a holy glow. And suddenly he was a tiny bit faster, a tiny bit more balanced, a tiny bit more dangerous. And a lot stronger.

I could not waste any more time watching it as again I was attacked, this time by both of them at once. I had a hard time fighting one of them, both at once were downright suicidal for me. Again and again pain shot through my body as they practically tortured me with their attacks, never targeted at actually crippling or killing me, only inflicting pain. These assholes. Fuckers.

Both grinned evilly while practically dancing around me, again and again dodging my, in comparison, clumsy blows, cutting me there and here. My ear was cut in half and one of them laughed with a gutural sound when I cried out in pain. I was half mad thanks to the torturous pain and my inability to do anything against it, they were just too fast for me.

Another cut and this time directly above my eyes, blinding me as blood immediately began to flow and run into my eyes, forcing me to close them again and again, as much as I fought against the urge. Half blind I tried to stumbled back, tripping over something and being send to the ground. My entire body was numb with pain and weak from the blood loss, making me as defenseless as a baby.

"Fuck...", I mumbled and tried to get back up, but a foot found my chest and I was pushed back down. Another foot was suddenly placed on my hand holding my falcata, crushing it, breaking a few of my finger bones, and despite my gasped scream I could still hear the cruel laughter of my tormentors.

"Time to die, half-breed", one of them said and I managed to open one eye. Through my blurry vision I saw one of them standing on top of me, holding his curved sword above his head, grinning maniacly.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. I did not even feel angry about dying. Again. I was just... a bit sad.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Then my would be killer was hit square in the chest with a ray of energy, sending him tumbling back, gasping and screaming in pain and horror, holding his wound. I tried to use the moment to get up again, rolling onto my stomach to push myself up, but a kick to my face send me back down. And I think knocked out a few of my teeth. I was in so much pain and agony at the time, I could not really be sure about it, as everything hurt.

I could not see what was going on, I just heard more voices and screaming and yelling and then I was suddenly pulled up. There were other people which had not been there before, I heard new voices and armored feet hitting the ground. Through my blurry vision I saw the face of a middle aged man with a greying beard, giving me a scrutinizing look. "Do not worry my son, you are safe now. Lathander, I bid of you, give me the power to heal this brave warrior, to ease his pain and to close his wounds he had received in the battle to protect his comrades."

I blinked. What the fuck was going on?

As he had asked for the pain in my body subdued and the bleeding stopped as he laid a warm glowing hand onto my chest. With renewed energy I managed to get up again and could now see what was actually happening around me.

Anomen was just crushing the head of the rakshasa he was fighting against, the Flail of Ages doing great work. My comrade was helped though by a man in godlen and silver plate armor, the holy symbol of Lathander, the rising sun, emblazed on the chest piece, wielding a well balanced halberd. Three more of these men were pushing back the by now single surviving monster, the last one was lying on the ground with his neck nearly cut off.

The battle was soon over, as soon as he saw that he had no chance, the rakshasa teleported away and fled the battle.

"Are you well enough my friend?", Anomen asked me and stepped up to me, grabbing my shoulder with one hand. He was still bigger and slightly more broad as usually, his hands were stronger too. And his eyes were shining. Say what you want, but cleric spells are a neat little thing if you ask me.

"I am now", I replied with a tired smile. Though I was not in immediate danger to die, still everything hurt. Now that the adrenaline was gone I could feel the tiredness in my muscles and the weakness in my joints. "Is Lith hurt?"

"She is not injured if it is that what you mean", he answers and before I could reply he already turns to the man in the flowing white and yellow robes, the man who had healed me. "Dawnmaster, I thank you for your assistance."

"There is no thank's needed", the man replied with a smile. "I was on my way back to the temple together with my personal guard when we heard the commotion. I could not just ignore people in dire need of assistance."

I think I could actually hear Anomen grind his teeth, but he managed a smile. A tight smile though, but a smile. The sight would have been funny, if not for the fact that I had nearly died. I should make a huge donation at the temple of the Morning Lord next time I'm there I thought to myself.

However, from there on the scene turned downwards again. Because the dawnmaster asked with a friendly smile but very stern tone: "However, I have also witnessed the action of your female companion. May I ask you to remove your hood good woman?"

I heard Lith breath in the air sharply and saw how she gave Anomen and me questioning looks. She made a small step back and hesitated, looking as if she was about to bolt. The dawnmaster gave her a sharp look and I did also notice how his men, armed with deadly looking halberds, stepped up to the scene.

After a tense moment Anomen said: "Lith, do as he asks."

Again a short moment of hesitation, then the girl grabbed her hood with trembling fingers and pulled it cautiously back, revealing her red skin, her short horns and an expression of shock and fear. The armed guard nearest to me gasped and gripped his weapon tighter, as if he was about to attack her.

"As I suspected", the dawnmaster said, his face tense and hard by now. "I must insist that this woman accompanies us to the temple."

"Hells no!", I grunted and grabbed the hilt of my sword already, while Lith made another step back and began to protest. However it was Anomen who made the only right thing at that moment.

"You will do no such thing!", he thundered with an expression as stern and unforgiving as that of the dawnmaster. "This is a valued friend and comrade of mine. In the name of the valiant order of the radiant heart, I, Anomen Delryn, son of Cor and Moirala Delryn, squire of Helm, declare that this woman, Lith'Gaen Arilanna, is under my personal protection. I vouch for her."

I stared at him with open surprise. Fuck, he could actually be a decent human being, who would have known? Then I smirked.

For a few moments, the dawnmaster studied the man who had not just openly declared himself a squire of a paladin order, but also a friend to a demonic creature, before nodding. "As you say, squire Delryn. I will trust your word on this." A short pause followed in which we all relaxed a bit, before he added: "Perhaps you are just the kind of man we are looking for. You and your friends are part of a larger group of adventurers, am I right?"

"That is correct dawnmaster", Anomen answered with a curt nod while sizing him up with sharp glances. "We were on the lookout for possible quests when these vile creatures attacked us. Do you require help with something dawnmaster?"

"Yes, yes we do actually." He sighed a bit. "To be honest, all of Athkatla need's your help I'm afraid. Come with your friends to the temple of Helm at sundown, we will meet you there and speak about the task, a most pressing one I might add."

"The temple of Helm?", Lith asked in surprise, at which he was given a sharp look by Anomen, which she ignored, and a neutral one by the dawnmaster of whom I had no idea what his name was. "But, we were just there and they told us they don't have the need of an adventurer group at the time."

"Yes, I'm afraid they would have said something like this", the man replied with a humorless smile on his face, before turning back to Anomen. "Meet me any my fellow priests at sundown. We will explain everything then. I hope you will agree to make time for this, despite the little... Missunderstanding."

"Missunderstanding my ass", the youngest of us muttered and crossed her arms, while Anomen managed to nod curtly to the man.

"We will be there", he told him and with that turned around and made his way out of the alley, indicating us to follow him. I grabbed the weapons of the two dead Rakshasa when passing them and hurried after my companion, no sense in letting good weapons go to waste. Especially when they could be worth a lot.

* * *

They were worth a lot it turned out. I sold one of them for five hundred pieces of gold, which I would use to pay back Hendak, and left the other if one of the group would perhaps have an interest to use it.

We did not speak much on the way back to the Coronet, not even when we have arrived there. Lith hurried away to her room after muttering a thanks to Anomen, who gave her an arrogant smile and told her it was nothing, he was only doing his duty in the name of all that was good and right. Well, it turned out that wasn't what she had hoped to hear and fled immediately after, leaving us behind.

I spend the remaining day either dozing in the sun or playing with a few of the former slave children, before meeting up with the rest of the group late afternoon. There we were again, sitting around two tables shoved together, the perhaps most heavily armed and most magically potent group in the tavern.

"I have met with Renal Bloodscalp and informed him that I will take his quest. I know that some you, my friends, don't know the details so let me explain it to you. I am tasked with infiltrating the thieves guild of a man named Mae'Var and find out if he is trying to betray the shadow thieves, reporting back to my employer should this be true and find evidence on the subject. It will most likely take a bit of time to do so, thus I will be unable to leave the city itself", Milira began to inform us after we all had something to eat and something to drink. Boo even had some nuts he was happily munching on. "I will also be doing a lot of the work alone, as none of you have the skills needed for, let's say, a break in. However, I hope I can count on you in case of an emergency."

A round of positive answers were given, at which she smiled. "Well then not that this is out of the way, did any of you have luck with finding work for us?"

"Indeed we have", Anomen immediately replied with a smug smile on his face and basked in the attention Milira was giving him. "A dawnmaster of Lathander requested to meet with us this very evening, at sundown. The details of the employment are not known to me as of now, but as it seems that in this case several temples are working together, I'm sure that it will be a grand quest."

"That are exeptional good news", Jaheira said without showing any positive emotion what so over. "However, not you alone did have luck in your search. Aerie and I have contacted an old friend of mine who is willing to pay us if we help him with one of his tasks." She made a short pause, giving us a serious expression, before saying: "I have already promised to help."

I could not help but roll with my eyes, while some others groaned. It was Lith who asked then: "So we're already in a quest?"

"It is not a quest girl, it is a task", corrected the druidess with a sharp glance at her. Then, with a tone of slightly hurt pride, she elaborated: "And you are mistaken, not you are bound by my word, but only myself. He is a friend of mine and I will help him, wether you come with me or not."

"I am sure we will come to an compromise", Milira said hastily before anyone else could get a word in. She was playing peacemaker between Jaheira and the rest of the group, again. "Do you have any details on what this deed is you have promised to help with?"

"Indeed I have", the woman in question answered with a slight smirk, directed at Anomen who had NOT been able to tell any detailed information on the task asked to be done. Or quest. Whatever. "There is a man in the city smuggling illegal goods, among them psionic poisons and rare spell components usually used by vile beings. The taks is to capture this man if possible and extract as much information concerning his partners out of him as we can. And possibly also dealing with those he is working for."

I noticed how Lith gave her huge eyes, clearly wondering why there wasn't such a quest in the game. Again I smirked slightly when seeing it. Then I asked myself if I had looked the same when realizing that things could be vastly different to what I would expect. Which would make things perhaps a bit more interesting.

* * *

_Azog getting his ass kicked is something that will happen a lot in the future. Because he is the one with the large, broad shield used to stand and take the beating, trying to protect the weaker members of the party._

_Also, while Lith had at first been nothing more than a parody, she will become a more fleshed out character from now on. In the beginning I had wanted to use her as some sort of parody for badly written Mary-Sues and SI's, being totally out of their comfort zone in a not so friendly world, in a contrast to Azog who is rather adapted to the Forgotten Realms. But, well, such things get boring quick._


	11. Chapter 10: Sir Keldorn

_I have no idea what I'm doing. This chapter took me ages to write, I have no idea why._

_ BlueInkedFrost: Though the Warlock-Class is not pushover, it is also not a very strong class. To be fair, the main weakness of it is it's lack of flexibility. It has some interesting powers but in the end the only thing it is good at is direct damage over a distance. It lacks the flexibility of every spell slinging class, making it a poor choice for any main caster. As secondary damage dealer however... not too bad._

* * *

**Chapter 10: Sir Keldorn**

And back to the temple district. After our evening meal Milira told us that she wanted Anomen, Lith and me coming with her meeting the priests in the temple of Helm and Minsc too said that he would accompany us... as did Viconia. Anomen looked like he had wanted to protest against the drow coming with us, but one seductive gaze from her made him swallow his words and stare at her retreating backside. Especially her lower back. Swinging enticing from left to right and from right to left. I admit, I too stared.

Much to the amusement of the other girls, who giggled at us poor fools.

As it was already shortly before sundown, thus not many people about, AND we were armored and armed, no one bothered us on our way through the city. The few lowlives who eyed us carefully decided that there were more promising targets about and left us alone, slinking back into the long shadows of the city.

We did not speak much during our short travel through the darkening streets, only Lith was babbling on happily. Now and then Milira would encourage her to delve deeper into a topic, about a funny story she had heard, about some other trivial thing, though never would the half-elven thief say more than one single sentence. It was as if she was using the poor teenage girl to distract herself a bit from the situation we were in.

I myself did my best to ignore Lith. Not that I had something against her personally, it was just that she was going on my nerves. I think she begins to babble when she is nervous, a bad habit of hers but an understandable one. But though I was not angry at her for constantly filling my ears with useless chatter, it was beginning to get agitated.

However, it was not me who finally exploded. We were on a nearly deserted street somewhere in the northern part of the city when Viconia suddenly snarled: "For the love of Shar, shut up girl, before I decide that your innards will look better on the ground than inside your useless body!"

Damn, she was intimidating, I have to give her that. With one hand on the grip of her mace and her lips pulled back in a snarl she gave one the impression of a dangerous predator about to jump on her prey.

"Hey, that is, like, totally uncalled for!", Lith protested, trying to sound offended but it only came out as frightful. Understandable if you ask me, but perhaps not very good for her standing inside the group.

I decided that should it come to blows I would step in, but until then I had no desire to get involved. Lith had brought herself into that situation, let's see how she get's out of it again.

As it turned out, rather badly. She just meekly shut up and held her face down for the rest of the way. It was a tense athmosphere and once or twice I saw her shooting a hurt look at Viconia's back, while the drow in question smirked now and then. I could not resist the temptation to comment this.

"Well, wow, you have managed to intimidate a small girl", I told her in a mocking, sarcastic tone, my voice lowered so that not everybody could hear me. But to be honest, everyone heard me anyway, because it was just so fucking silent. "I see why you drow are the bane of the world."

"If the girl can not stand the wrath of those she herself agitated, than she should just lay down and die", she snorted back. "And you, jaluk, should not speak to me when the wind carries your breath into my face. I feel my evening meal rising again already."

"Calling the half-orc stinky? Very grown up", I gave back with rolled eyes and even more sarcasm. "And so original. I must say, I have never been called out on my purely imagined smell, that is so... wow, I would have never thought that anyone could come up with that. Oh, you are a master of insults, truly."

"I'm really sorry that I dissapoint you", was her retort, like my words also heavily laced with sarcasm. "If we were in the underdark, you would have been dead thrice over, either eaten by spiders or killed by a female tired of your whimpering. Or perhaps they would have just cut out your tongue."

"Yeah, but as you will soon notice, the world does not deal with what-ifs and could-bes", I answered with a nonchalant shrug. "We are not in the underdark and though I am a motherless bastard, I can walk through the streets without fear of getting murdered by some people because of the color of my skin. Other then, oh right, you."

That was a lowblow, I know, but at the moment I did not care. All I cared about was seeing that smirk on her face vanishing and being replaced with a scowl. Then I remembered that it was not only her with that kind of problem, but Lith as well. Inwardly I cringed.

We did not change any more words for the rest of the way and it was a rather serious group arriving at the temple of Helm, eyed by the guards through their thick helmets. I don't get why they had to wear these stupid full helmets, they were totally idiotic for fighting on foot. Sure, they protected the face and looked badass, but they also did not allow for much vision and that could mean the death of a fighter.

Milira strode in unfazed by the four heavily armored and armed men, like she was just a normal visitor, the rest of us following her a bit more carefully. Especially Lith did look like she had absolutely no desire to step into the temple and I think it was only Aerie holding her hand, that she managed to get in at all.

The inside of the temple was rather spartanic, fitting for the militaristic god it was for, the only decorations were a grand statue of helm in the middle of the main room and some smaller ones in each corner of the hall. At least I thought so before I saw the ceiling. It was a maervelous piece of art, easily as grand as the Sistine Chapel, showing in immense detail the different battles Helm had fought throughout the ages and his ever vigilant role as watcher protector.

I had not noticed a young priest moving towards us and leading Milira into a smaller room to the side, I had been busy with studying the ceiling, and had to be pulled along by Aerie.

We found ourselves facing not only the priest of Lathander from earlier and the High Watcher from the temple of Helm, but a whole series of other priests too, sitting on one side of a long table, eyeing us carefully. I think every major temple with the exception of that of Talos was presented by a high ranking cleric, as well as a few smaller temples. There was even a cleric of Tempus there.

A young, slightly broad blonde woman with her hair in twin braids laying on her shoulders, dressed in the rusty red robes of a priest of Tempus. A woman who had woken up next to me just a few day's prior. Urg, dammit. I had nearly boned a cleric of my god. Well, could have gone worse.

I winced slightly upon seeing her and she did the same as she saw me, but other than that she gave no indication that she recognized me. Something I was thankfull for.

We stood in a long row before the table, me on one of the ends and Milira in the middle, and waited to be spoken too. We had not wait long, as about a moment after the last of us stood there the priests rose to attention. In the middle sat, well stood by then, the High Watcher of Helm. He was a broad shouldered, large man way past his best years, but he had apparently aged well. He was clad in full plate armor, as a cleric of Helm is ever ready and armed like his god is, and draped with a red cloak and a tabard of steely grey, adorned with the Unsleeping Eye in the center of the breast. And of a helmet, an open one though.

"I am High Watcher Oisig, leader of this Temple and commander of Helm's forces in Amn", he introduced himself, his voice serious, deep and easily filling the room. I could easily imagine him either speaking to a large assembly of believers or an assembled army, holding their complete attention. "I am the one speaking for this council of the faithfull. Whom am I adressing?"

"We are honored to stand before this council", Milira said with a smooth tone. "I am Milira of Candlekeep, leader of this loyal and brave men and women. What is it you desire of us?"

"First, I must say that I know of rour repuation. We have heard of your deeds among the swordcoast. It is irrelevant now. You will be judged according to how you serve", Oisig began and I could not say if what he said was good or bad. "The task we ask will be treacherous, but you seem capable. Serve well, and you will be rewarded. Display any treachery, and it will be seen. Now to the task."

There was a short pause as the priests sat down again and some of us, especially Lith who stood next to me, shuffled a bit nervous with their feet, but everyone remained silent.

"We have heard and seen a dangerous new cult growing in the heart of Athkatla. They call themselves the servants of the Unseeing Eye and declare they are the followers of the only true god", Oisig began to explain the task, his voice still hard and serious and filling the room with ease. "They proclaim to be thousands of them to be there already and if what they say is true, it threatens to upset a delicate balance. A new power would ony disrupt the way of things. If they are laying, then whatever cult they are proposing can only serve to hurt those it bilks into following them."

"What signs point to this?", our leader asked, her smooth, pleasant voice a sharp contrast to the clerics deep rumble. "I would not wish to upset a legitimate faith."

"Nothing points to the emergence of a new deity. It would be impossible to hide such an event from the Great Guard that is Helm. What does remain unseen is the fate of those that have chosen to follow. We have lost some of our younger faithful, and they must be accounted for."

"Then we will help as we can", Milira answered. "Can you detail what is required?"

"He of the Unsleeping Eyes must know of this cult. The blindness they promote is abhorrent to Helm. We ask you to investigate and identify what is happening", the High Watcher explained. "The Vigilant One informs us that the cult is underground and close, but we cannot see past the sewers. You must infiltrate it, as friend or as conquerer. You must suffer the filth of the sewers to fing the filth of the cult. They are not hiding amidst the pipes, so there must be a passage leading further away."

"Forgive me honoured council, but I must ask you of payment for this task", came the answer from Milira. "I need a large amount of money to save a friend in need and though I will gladly serve the gods, I sadly must ask for a reward."

"There will be a reward, be assured of that my child", an older woman next to Oisig spoke with a smile. I think she was a priestess of Waukeen, but I could not be sure. "Do not worry, this council will not let you lesave us with empty hands once you have done the task."

"Then we will help as best as we can."

And then again the low, deep voice of Oisig spoke. "Our resources are thin ate the moment, but an ally of Helm and servant of Torm is awaiting you at the Headquarter of the Order by the morrow. Seek Sir Keldorn to serve with you. Faith guide you all."

With that the meeting was adjurned and though I was very confused by the fact that they did not ask us about Lith and or Viconia, I did have no desire to push our luck, so I just followed my comrades out of the temple.

"I know of Sir Keldorn", I heard Anomen speak as we were about to leave through the large double door back to the street. "I do not doubt that he looks into this cult on his own. He is a veteran paladin of the Order, a fine warrior... if somewhat arrogant and over-pious."

"He must be a truly despicable person when you say so", Viconia muttered at that. I could not help but snicker upon hearing it. However, the next sentence of Milira pointed into my direction let that good mood of mine vanish in an instant.

"So Azog... Haven't I seen that cleric of Tempus somewhere before?", she asked me with a sly smirk. "I think I have seen her leaving your room in the Coronet just recently, haven't I?"

"Oh... just shut up."

* * *

After a long, peacefull slumber in my bed and a hearty breakfast I was tasked to meet with Sir Keldorn, together with Anomen. Though we would decend into the sewers in a bigger group, Milira thought it best not to antagonize the paladins by sending a drow or a fey'ri directly to their base of operations.

"And be as pious as you wish, but please, not while you're working", Nalia told me before I left and I could only roll my eyes at the giggles behind me. Milira had began to tease me a bit the moment we had left the temple of Helm and before I knew what happened, every member of our group knew that I had slept with the priestess of Tempus.

Which wouldn't have been so bad, if not for the facts that a.) I haven't had sex with her at all and no one would believe me and b.) Jaheira had sat me down and given me a speech on how much she was dissapointed in me that I had behaved like a drunken teenager and so on. That had been nearly as bad as someone giving me _The Talk_. Well, at least the others had been amused by it all.

We were to meet the others of those who would accompany us down into the sewers at a certain entrance point, after we gathered Sir Keldorn.

"Say Anomen...", I asked in a jovial manner while searching my way through the morning crowd at the great bridge. "... why have you opted to sleep at the Coronet, and not at the order's headquarter? I would think the bed there is more comfortable than those at that rundown inn."

"Though you are right my comrade...", he answered and tried to look as proud as possible. Which wasn't hard, considering that he was wearing freshly polished armor and walked with a step of a man who knows that he was something better than those around him. He was exactly the kind of guy who would get robbed just because he pissed of the locals. "... I do prefer the company of men and women who can profit from my presence. It is a duty of warriors of Helm to lead by example and inspire others to follow a path of honor and rightiousnes."

He had either not seen my rolled eyes or chose to ignored them. Instead of telling him my thoughts on the matter, that he kinda was a dick, I asked him what he knew about this Keldorn fellow. What his strength' were, his weaknesses, his skills, his abilities, all this stuff that could be life saving in a battle.

"Sir Keldorn..." He emphasized the Sir, as if he was trying to tell me something specific with that. "... is a competent wielder of the greatsword. His devotion to Torm is unquestionable and he is an experienced, battle hardened veteran of many campaigns. However, as I have never worked with the man before, I can not say much about his abilities to lead or his character. Though I was told that he is quite the serious man, short on humor AND patience."

"Are you trying to tell me something specific?", I asked with a single raised eyebrow. "Because if you are, you better spell it out for me, otherwise I will not get it."

"What I mean is, that you should keep your tongue in check when meeting him and while you are working with him", he practially snapped at me. "He will most likely be concerned with the company I keep as it is and I have no desire to antagonize him further."

The second eyebrow rose too.

I knew that he was still a squire and dreamed of becoming a fully fledged knight since he could remember. So if a senior member of the order would begin to think bad of him, a senior member who was also in high standing most likely, his goal could be set back by years to come. "Though I do understand your fears, I don't think that's the right way to deal with it."

"What do you mean with that?", he snapped at me, practically glaring at me. "I do not know what you are playing at."

I held up my hands in defense. "Hey, no hard feelings here. Look, I know that you are concerned what he will think of the company you keep, but..." I made a short pause, filled with a sigh and a pained smile. "But perhaps you should just trust in your companions, be it Sir Keldorn or us."

Though he scoffed slightly, he did not speak more on the matter.

Sir Keldorn turned out to be a broad shouldered, grizzled man and looked just like I imagined him from seeing him in the game. Only that here he was live and real and had a few more expressions than that kind smile of his. Though perhaps not many.

"Squire Anomen", he greeted my fellow adventurer with a friendly nod and got a bow in return. He seemed to be a bit uncomfortable by this gesture, yet he said nothing. "I understand that we will work together on this quest. Would you kindly introduce your companion to me?"

"Surely Sir Keldorn", Anomen answered. It was funny to hear him use a nearly demure tone, like a soldier speaking to a superior officer. Yes, that was the best comparison. "This is Azog, a mercenary from the Dragoncoast and trusted friend. A brave man and strong arm."

"An honor to meet you", Keldorn said to me.

"Likewise", I replied.

We remained mostly silent on our way to the entrance to the sewers where we would meet with the others and I found myself thinking on how to react if things would go badly. If the paladin would protest about having to work with a drow or fey'ri or if he insults them, even if I did not think he would, or the like.

It didn't.

He just introduced himself to everyone, nodded at everyones introduction and only raised his eyebrows a bit when being faced with Viconia and Lith respectively. He did not say a single word about it. It was... good.

"Let us depart. Our enemies do not wait for us", Jaheira simply said as the introductions were over, not giving anyone any time to begin with smalltalk. Besides her, me and the two members of the order, only Lith, Viconia and Aerie were going down into the sewers. Nalia and Minsc had accompanied Milira to her meeting with Mae'Var, a thieving mage and a big muscly guy to play their parts.

In the absence of our leader, Jaheira had been tasked with having the command and though Viconia had at first protested, she had accepted it. For now.

As we began to climb down the rusty, slimy ladder into the underbelly of the city of coin, I felt a bit of a rush coming over me. A dungeoncrawl. The most Dungeons and Dragons experience you can get. It felt really good.

* * *

I felt less good after our first encounter. We had stumbled across a group of adventurers, at least I think they had been adventurers, and they have not taken kindly to that. Even less kindly have they taken the fact, that we were having a paladin with us. And when the dwarven leader of them had made a crude comment about Viconia and how well she would look atop of his cock, things got out of hand.

"That was... not very fun", mumbled Lith next to me. We both sat on the ground, leaning against the wall, not caring that we were getting our clothes dirty. I mean, I was covered with dirt and slime anyway, the dwarf had tackled me and made me loose my footing on the slimy underground. And Lith tunic was partially burned and covered in blood, a fireball and a headless corpse the reasons for that respectively.

"Yeah", I agreed with a shrug. My head turning to her I studied her in the partial darkness. Her hair was messy, her face covered in dirt here and there, her eyes downcast. She was a bit tired, her chest rising and sinking at a fast speed, she was even panting slightly. Throwing around rays of magic seemed to be rather exhausting. "But... you got to... be useful. Your magic ray is perhaps not very strong, compared to a fireball or so, but then again, you can throw them around a lot more."

She did not answer immediately and before she could reply, Jaheira called me over to help stripping the corpses. Giving her a last smile I rose to my feet and made my way over to the dirty, grim scene of carnage. Five men had died there and one of us nearly too.

Again Anomen had reacted too reckless, pushing forward when it would have been better to remain at my side so that we could act together. If not for Viconia holding down one of our enemies with the magic of Shar and Aerie casting countering most of the enemy mage's offensive spells, he would have most likely gotten himself killed.

Keldorn on the other hand...

"You are a very good man to fight at ones side", I said to him as he helped me strip one of the men out of their armor. It was a grizzly corpse, the face rotten where Viconia had touched him with a spell of inflicting wounds. Other than clerics of good aligned deities, such priests as her were able to spontaneusly change one of their spells into a spell of inflicting direct damage, instead of healing ones wounds. Not a pretty sight.

"I thank you", he rumbled with his deep bass. I also found the fact that he, a paladin, was not above helping his comrades with such grizzly tasks as stripping an enemies corpse of any usefull equipment very agreeable. Surprising, but agreeable. "You too seem to be a man of courage and bravery. There are not many men of your heritage who chose to fight in a way you do."

I could have taken that as insult, but it was, in essence, just a fact. I chuckled a bit. "Yes, I know. My strength would swinging a massive blade or axe perhaps more devastating, but I prefer to fight... I prefer to fight to defend. In and out of battle."

"An admirable trait", he told me, his face solemn but soft. "But I am a firm believer of the politcy that often the best way to defend, is to destroy what is endangering what is ours."

"Is that why you fight with a greatsword? A fine work by the way, I could not help but to admire the craftmansship and the way it cuts through flesh like a knife through hot butter", I replied while absently going through the pockets of the dead man. A few coins, a small gem, small trinkets, not much more.

"It is part of the reason why I do so", Keldorn answered in a nearly jovial tone. It was nice just talking with him, holding small talk about trivial things like these. Weaponry and styles of fighting was a topic like any other for us, at least for me, like the weather or the latest gossip. Not that I would gossip, oh no. "Then there is also the fact that while I have learned to also wield a longsword and shield, I am not very gifted in the use of it. The greatsword is more to my liking, a simple matter of preferance if you wish. And I thank you for your compliment, I will bring it to the ears of the smith."

"A skilled man I might to wager."

"Indeed he is. Mikken is long since in the service of the order, forging weapons for knights and squires alike."

Any more conversation was cut short with a curt command from Jaheira, telling us to hurry up and not to dally. Not Keldorn and me specifically, but all of us. Everything of use, good equipment, gold and trinkets of worth, we threw onto pile and let Viconia and Jaheira sort through it.

However...

"It is unworthy of a man of standing to search the pockets of the dead like a common thief", Anomen sneered, standing apart with his arms crossed in front of his chest, totally ignoring the fact that an experienced knight was just doing so right in front of him. Or actually doing so and thus trying to remind Sir Keldorn of the fact. Several dangerous glares were shot into his direction and again I felt the urge to hit him repeatedly.

"Squire Anomen, while your respect for the dead is admirable and just, neither Torm nor any other god of justice and honor will think of you any less when you help your comrades in such a grizzly task", Keldorn said in a surprisingly friendly voice. I shot him a thankful look and saw behind him Jaheira, looking as if she had been about to sharply remind Anomen of who was the leader and boss of this little group when Keldorn had beat her to it.

"Yeah, what he said", Lith mumbled, scowling a bit.

"Shut up child and help us", Viconia snapped towards her. Like Anomen, Lith had not done anything to help us with our task of stripping the dead of their belongings. I wager unlike him not because she felt to proud for it, but because the whole process of stripping corpses and searching them was rather gruesome for someone with a background such as hers. To be fair, I had to fight the urge to retch too. Perhaps it helped that my constitution stat was higher than hers.

She had the decency to look like a little girl caught with her hand in the cookie jar, giving the drow priestess an unsure smile before carefully making her way over to Keldorn and me. Anomen just snorted and though he looked angry, he began to work too.

Both the aged warrior and I hid smirks, he better I did. I openly grinned when some of the innards of the corpse came loose and hit the floor with a sickening, wet sound. Not because I was bloodthirsty or anything, I was just finding it very amusing to see Lith fighting down the urge to throw up. She lost.

"Well, at least it will not smell worse than it already does", Viconia muttered with a roll of her eyes.


End file.
